The Philippine economy grew 5.7% during the first quarter of 2014, slightly lower than expected growth according to market expectations. The main reasons for the slower growth of the Philippines is because of the major devastation brought about by super typhoon Yolanda.
Although the country posted a slightly lower growth, the Philippines still ranked as the third fastest growing economy in the entire Asia, after China with 7.4% growth and Malaysia with 6.2% growth.
The economic growth of the Philippines is on the right track according to some economic analyst, the country already enjoyed a 9 consecutive quarters of above 5.5% GDP growth, bringing President’s Aquino’s average quarterly GDP growth rate to 6%.
During the administration of President Aquino, the Philippines manufacturing sector has increased an average of 6.9%, exports have increased by an average of 5.5% while the country’s fixed and capital formation also increased by an average of 8.8%.
The announcement of the Philippine economic growth for the first quarter was released a week after the country successfully hosted regional events such as the World Economic Forum on East Asia and the ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Investors Seminar that showed the regional and global economy is now setting its sight on the Philippines.
The Philippine government also announced that the country was able to maintain high growth while keeping inflation within policy levels at 4.1% in the first quarter of 2014.
Aside from maintaining the inflation rate, in the fiscal side, the Philippine expenditures have increased by 12% over the same period last year supported by the strong growth in the revenue collection of 9% in the same period last year, particularly the Bureau of Customs’ 26% year on year growth.