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."