MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – The local economy likely grew between 6.2% and 7.2% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, pushing full-year growth to 7% to 7.4%, the head of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said on Tuesday.
One of the drivers was the rebound in the farm sector during the last quarter of 2010, NEDA director-general Cayetano Paderanga told reporters.
The government has kept a gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 5% to 6% for 2010 ever after higher-than-expected growth in the first half.
GDP grew by 7.9% and 7.8% in the second and first quarters, respectively, before slowing down to 6.5% in the third as the effect of government pump-priming and election spending faded.
For 2011, Paderanga has said economic expansion was expected to be “more modest.”
Nonetheless, the government is maintaining a 7% to 8% growth target range for this year.
The government will announce official fourth-quarter growth data on Jan. 31. –Reuters
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