RP growth above expectation

RP growth above expectation

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines posted stronger than expected economic growth in the second quarter of 2001, exceeding private and government projections despite a global slowdown, officials said Thursday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in April-June period hit 3.3 percent "exceeding the expectations of private forecasters and the government's 2.8-3.0 percent forecast," Economic Planning Secretary Dante Canlas said.

Fueled by domestic demand, the GDP growth in the second quarter of the year was "slightly higher than the revised first quarter growth of 3.2 percent," he told a news conference.

Canlas said the country's GDP grew 3.3 percent in the first half of 2001 while its gross national product (GNP) expanded 3.4 percent during the same period.

Canlas said "the economy exhibited sufficient resiliency and bounced on a global economic platform studded with dead spots."