The local economy is expected to stay healthy and strong after recording a 6.8 percent full year growth in 2016, Malacañang said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella has welcomed the country’s latest strong Gross Domestic Product growth and voiced confidence this could be sustained “in the long run.”
“The last quarter of an election year is usually weak with the government transition. However, in our case, it has actually improved,” Abella said in a Palace news conference.
The latest economic figure is “a testament that our economy remains robust and is growing at a healthy and steady rate,” Abella added.
“Overall, we believe that the target of 6.5, 7.5 for 2017 is highly likely and that our strong economic performance is likely to be sustainable in the long run,” he said.
The country’s GDP posted a 6.6 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 driving the economy to grow by 6.8 percent for the entire year.
Abella said this was higher than the 6.3 percent growth recorded during the fourth quarter of 2015 and the 6.6 percent growth in fourth quarter.
“The Philippine economy is likely the third or fourth fastest growing economy in the fourth quarter of 2016 after China and Vietnam,” he added. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)
