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1st LD-Writethru: Philippine economic growth slows to 5.2 pct in Q1

Xinhua, May 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 5.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier as the expansion of services sector decelerated during the period, local statistics agency said Thursday.

The Philippine National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB), the country's statistics authority, said GDP growth in the January to March period is lower than the 5.6 percent recorded in the same period last year. The figure was also lower than the 6.6 percent posted in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The NSCB data showed that the growth of the services sector, the main driver of the GDP growth for the quarter, decelerated to 5.6 percent from 6.8 percent posted a year ago.

Industry, on the other hand, accelerated to 5.5 percent from 5. 4 percent posted last year. The agriculture sector accelerated to 1.6 percent from 0.6 percent, according to NSCB.

Arsenio M. Balisacan, the country's Economic Planning Secretary, said during a press conference that the 5.2-percent GDP growth is lower than what the government and the market expected.

"The slower-than-programmed pace of the public spending, particularly the decline in public construction, has slowed down the overall growth of the economy," said Balisacan.

The Philippine Statistics Authority announced Wednesday that the GDP growth for the fourth quarter last year was revised downward to 6.6 percent from 6.9 percent.

The economic growth for the Philippines in 2014 stood at 6.1 percent. Endi