The country’s local output—measured as the gross domestic product (GDP)— was seen accelerating faster in the second quarter to 6.8 percent, according to Moody’s Analytics, the research subsidiary unit of the New York-based credit watcher Moody’s Investors Service.
In its weekly preview of economies from around Asia Pacific, Moody’s Analytics economist Katrina Ell expressed optimism the Philippines posted local output growth faster in the April-to-June period than in the first quarter, when the economy expanded by only 5.2 percent.
The independent research unit based its optimism of accelerated growth on quicker disbursement of public funds underwriting a number of growth-boosting activities during the period, including the construction of public infrastructures.
“Stronger government spending, thanks to delayed stimulus getting under way, likely lifted investment and household consumption,” the Moody’s analyst said. “This boost
will continue through the second half of 2015,” Ell said.
Exports, which was one of the underperformers in the first quarter, was seen to have delivered only a slight improvement in the second quarter, although its contribution to overall economic expansion should not be large or significant.
“Exports improved modestly with stronger global tech demand, but the sustained lull in energy
prices is keeping exports and production of other hard commodity-related products fairly soft,” Moody’s Analytics said.
At the forecast rate of 6.8 percent in the April-to-June period, growth in the first six months translates to economic expansion averaging 6 percent.
While this clearly indicates that the economy continues to accelerate, the forecast rate of expansion is lower than that anticipate by the country’s economic managers who earlier projected growth ranging from 7 percent up to 8 percent this year.
When the government first reported on growth developments in the first quarter, various analysts and observers chastised the government for having held back on disbursing funds for critical public infrastructures ostensibly because they fear widespread corruption to diminish its impact on the lives of Filipinos. The Philippine Statistics Authority is set to announce the second-quarter GDP numbers on August 27.