MANILA
The Philippine economy grew 6.9 per cent last quarter, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey and cementing its position as one of the fastest-expanding in the world.
The Philippines is emerging as one of this decade’s economic stars with the World Bank predicting growth of more than 6 per cent until 2019, underpinned by an ambitious infrastructure building program and a young and growing population. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Thursday said he expects faster growth in the succeeding quarters, while the central bank Governor Nestor Espenilla said there are no signs of overheating in the economy.
President Rodrigo Duterte has secured loans from China and Japan to help finance $180 billion of spending on projects such as the capital’s first subway and a network of railways and highways across the archipelago. More than $50 billion of remittances and outsourcing revenue a year is helping support consumer spending, and luring retailers such as home furnishing giant Ikea.
The central bank has so far kept interest rates at a record low but may be persuaded to tighten policy next year as currency weakness adds to pressure on inflation. The peso has dropped to an 11-year low this year and is the worst performing unit in Asia.
But there are signs of a slowdown in some sectors like consumer spending as remittances in September dropped the most since 2003.
