PhilippinesisfastestgrowingAsiancountryforfirstquarterof2013

By Matikas Santos
INQUIRER.net

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(We are reposting this report to correct data on the mining and quarrying industry in the first quarter of 2013. The earlier
version reported that the industry grew by 17 percent. The truth is it actually contracted by 17 percent. )
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has the fastest growing economy among Asian countries for the first quarter of
2013, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) announced Thursday.
NSCB announced that the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, faster
than China (7.7 percent), Indonesia (6 percent), Thailand (5.3 percent), and Vietnam (4.9 percent), Secretary of
Socioeconomic Planning of the Philippines Arsenio Balisacan said in a press conference aired live on television Thursday.
NSCB attributed the 7.8 percent increase in the GDP of the country to the strong performance of the manufacturing and
construction sectors, as well as the increase in government and consumer spending.
Officials said that the quarterly growth rate was the highest since reformist President Benigno Aquino III took office in
2010 on a promise to fight corruption and cut poverty. Aquinos allies won majorities in both houses of Congress in
elections early this month, making it possible for Aquino to push through with his legislative agenda in the remaining
three years in power.
The Philippines has bucked a regional trend of slowing growth amid recession in Europe and a slow recovery in the
United States. It expanded faster than Asian powerhouse China, where the economy unexpectedly slowed to 7.7 percent
growth in the first quarter.
The industry sector, composed of mining, manufacturing, and construction, grew by 10.9 percent, higher than the
recorded 5.3 and 8.9 percent during the first and last quarter of 2012.
The Mining and Quarrying industry contracted by 17 percent in Q1 of 2013, compared to 1.7 and 2.8 percent increase in
the first and last quarter of the previous year.
Manufacturing industry grew by 9.7 percent this year, higher that the 6 and 5.5 percent in the first and last quarter of
2012.
Construction industry, meanwhile, further increased to 32.5 percent compared to 29.9 percent in the fourth quarter of
2012.
The services and agriculture sectors also contributed to the growth with 7 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.
Balisacan said the Philippines hopes to achieve a target of 7 percent to 8 percent annual growth by 2016.
The fourth-quarter 2012 growth was revised from 6.8 percent to 7.1 percent. In 2012, the economy grew 6.8 percent.
Despite the impressive growth figures, the Philippines faces many challenges. Among them, the global slowdown,
excessive capital inflows and natural disasters, an annual occurrence in the Southeast Asian country where poor
infrastructure and rice fields suffer damage from typhoons and floods.

Employees work on a construction site in Manila. AFP FILE PHOTO

Disasters can negate the gains and even push back development. Moreover, the global economy remains fragile,
negatively affecting our trade performance, Balisacan told reporters.
Due to the attractive investment opportunities, we are also at risk of receiving too much capital inflows as advanced
economies implement quantitative easing. The challenge is to channel these inflows into productive investments, he said.
Increased consumer and government spending was accompanied by investment in construction, the National Statistical
Coordination Board said.
Domestic consumption remained the main driver of growth, fueled by remittances from about 10 million overseas
Filipino workers. Last year, they sent back $24 billion, which accounts for 10 percent of the countrys economic output. It
makes the Philippines the third largest recipient of remittances in the world, after India and China and on par with
Mexico.
There has been little progress in job creation. The Asian Development Bank says that nearly half of those working within
the country are classified as vulnerable unpaid family workers and the self-employed, mostly in the informal sector.
Economists have urged the government to diversify the economy by revamping the educational system and providing
employment opportunities in manufacturing.
The proliferation of call centers has made outsourcing one of the fastest growing industries with revenue of $11 billion in
2011. But for the large pool of unskilled labor, those jobs are out of reach. Poverty rates remain high, with about a third of
the population living on $2 a day.
Balisacan said that the government understood that for growth to be inclusive, the poor must be linked to the growth
industries.
The faster this can be done, the better it will be for the greater number of our people, he said. With reports from
Associated Press, DZIQ Radyo Inquirer 990AM
(Originally posted 10:41 a.m. May 30, 2013)

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DAP also played an important role in our economic resurgence. According to the World Bank, DAP contributed 1.3
percentage points to our GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2011. Let us compare: isnt it true that, when they were still
in power, we were called the Sick Man of Asia? Today, we can choose from a number of new labels: Asias fastest
growing economy, Rising Tiger, Brightest Park. And lets include the investment grade status we received from the three
most reputable credit ratings agencies in the world. This economic growthand its positive effects, which have
redounded to our countrymen, especially those in the margins of societythis is the product of principled spending, and
not of stealing. Money once pocketed by the corrupt is now being used to help our people, particularly the poor.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines The Philippines is now the rising tiger of Asia as the governments economic initiatives and
political reforms have begun to bear fruit, the World Bank said yesterday.

The Philippines is no longer the sick man of East Asia, but the rising tiger. There is macroeconomic stability, and the
fiscal situation of the government is sound and improving. The fight against corruption is being waged with determination
and it is paying off. Transparency is improving everywhere in the Philippines, Motoo Konishi, WB country director for
the Philippines, said at the closing of the 2013 Philippine Development Forum at the Marco Polo Hotel here.

Konishi said foreign funding agencies are convinced of the governments sincere commitment to good governance and
that such sincerity has attracted investments and paved the way for inclusive growth in the coming years.

The objective of putting the country irreversibly onto a path of inclusive growth growth that creates jobs and reduces
poverty is within reach, the WB official said. We have noted the hard-fought battles over key reforms. We have seen the
improvements in the budget: better prioritization, better execution, better monitoring and more transparency, he
pointed out.

We welcome the scaling up of expenditures on health, education and social protection. We are seeing infrastructure
spending going up and becoming more strategic and efficient, Konishi added.

Speaking in the same forum, President Aquino voiced his wish for stronger partnership between the country and funding
institutions.