The Philippine Online Chronicles

With the encouraging economic growth posted in the first three quarters of 2010, a top central bank official said that it was likely that the economy grew faster than earlier predictions last year.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said Tuesday that this growth, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), may have accelerated by seven percent, higher than the government's five to six percent projection.

Tetangco also predicts that the last quarter may follow the growth trend observed in the first three quarters.

"We believe that seven-percent growth for 2010 is attainable given the first to third quarter 2010 actual growth rate and given the likely outcome of the fourth-quarter performance," Philippine Star quoted Tetangco.

The country posted a 7.5 percent GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2010 compared to 0.7 percent recorded during the same period in 2009.

This prompted the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to revise the original forecast of 2.6-3.6 percent to a 5-6 percent growth for 2010.

Escaping recession

According to reports, the country was on the brink of recession in 2009, but the infusion of fiscal and monetary packages helped lessen the impact of the global economic meltdown on the local economy.

In 2008, the Philippines registered a 3.8 percent GDP growth, but in the following year growth had slid to 1.1 percent. A rebound occured when 2010 came in.

The central bank is also having high hopes that the country will attain the GDP growth target of 7-8 percent this year, while the advanced economies are still struggling in the after-effects of the global financial crisis.

GDP is defined as the value of goods and services output of a country during a specific time period. It indicates the country's economic performance and sometimes used to gauge its standard of living.

Lower targets

The United Nations (UN) also expects the country to have grown by 6.8 percent last year, slightly less than what the BSP foresaw.

While BSP aimed for a higher target for this year, the UN settled for a lower expectation towards the Philippine economy.

The UN's World Economic Situation and Prospects 2011 report released yesterday said that the country's economic growth will likely slow to 4.6 percent this year.

According to BusinessWorld, the World Bank also announced a lower outlook for the Philippines in 2011, forecasting a 5-percent growth.

Both outlooks for the country are lower than the East Asian region's 2011 growth forecasts of 7.2 percent. The rest of the world, meanwhile, is expected to grow by just 3.1 percent this year.

Countries in the region expect moderate growth this year because "weaknesses in major developed economies continue to drag the global recovery," UN reportedly said.

In order to reach its target, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that they will design policies and projects to generate employment, said a GMA News report.

In terms of economic development, international analysts regard the Philippines as one of the fastest developing countries in the southeast Asian region.

However, the Australian Aid Agency says that the "steady" growth rate presented by the country is not enough to keep pace with many of its Asian neighbors in reducing poverty.

To cut widespread poverty in the country, foreign business leaders say that annual economic growth should be around 9 to 10 percent in order to generate more employment opportunities.