The Philippine Statistics Authority revised downward the third-quarter gross domestic product growth to 7 percent from the previous estimate of 7.1 percent.

The downward revision brought the average growth in the first three quarters of 2016 to 6.9 percent, still within the 2016 target of the Development Budget Coordination Committee at 6 percent to 7 percent.

The official full-year GDP growth rate will be announced today.

PSA said in a statement on its website that the top contributors to the growth revision were financial intermediation, real estate, renting and business activities and agriculture and forestry.

Life insurer Sun Life Financial of Canada (Philippines) Inc. said the economy likely expanded 7 percent in the whole of 2016 on the back of robust consumer and government spending.

Sun Life chief investments officer Michael Enriquez said the outlook for the country remained strong and fundamentally positive.

“Remittances from overseas Filipino workers, the business process putsourcing industry and the large number of Filipinos who are of working age are among the factors boosting our economy from the consumer’s end,” Enriquez said.

“On the other hand, the rise in government spending is bringing about more jobs and has also increased the demand for construction materials,” he said.

25 January 2107
By Gabrielle H. Binaday