Workers pictured as they work on MRT 7 along Commonwealth in Quezon City. (Photo: The Star)The Philippine economic growth slowed to 6.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018 – the slowest pace in three years.
The rate is softer than the upwardly revised 6.2 percent in the previous quarter and 7.2 percent growth rate posted in the same period last year.
For the first nine months, the Southeast Asian country’s GDP growth averaged 6.3 percent.
Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said that the Philippine economy has to grow by at least 7 percent in the last quarter to achieve a target of 6.5-6.9 percent growth rate set by the Government for the whole year.
Inflation clocked in at 6.7 percent in October, unchanged from September’s clip but still the fastest pace in nearly a decade.
The country’s export turnover is forecast to post year-on-year rises of 2 percent in 2018 and 6 percent in 2019, much lower than the growth rate of 9 percent for each year predicted earlier./.