Philippines Economic Update, October 2019 : Resuming Public Investment, Fast Tracking Implementation
Philippine economic growth slowed to its lowest level in eight years, driven by a rapid deceleration in investment growth in the first half of 2019. GDP growth slowed from 6.3 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the first half of 2018 to 5.5 percent in t...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/224501570715185892/Philippines-Economic-Update-Resuming-Public-Investment-Fast-Tracking-Implementation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32531 |
| Summary: | Philippine economic growth slowed to its
lowest level in eight years, driven by a rapid deceleration
in investment growth in the first half of 2019. GDP growth
slowed from 6.3 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the first half
of 2018 to 5.5 percent in thesame period in 2019, below
government’s growth target of 6-7 percent for 2019. The
slowdown was primarily driven by a contraction in nominal
public investment due to the delayed passage of the 2019
national government budget and the spending ban on new
projects before the May election. Public infrastructure
spending shrunk by 15.7 percent yoy in nominal terms, from
5.4 percent of GDP in the first half of 2018 to 4.3 percent
of GDP in the same period in 2019. In addition, private
investment activities also slowed due to uncertainties
around the government’s ongoing tax reform program and the
external environment. In this context, private consumption,
which regained momentum thanks to declining inflation and
improving labor market conditions, was the main driver of growth. |
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