RP sustains growth

RP sustains growth

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines has moved on from the boom-and- bust cycle of growth that has plagued the country for decades, President Fidel Ramos said yesterday, but he admitted the fresh gains have yet to trickle down.

"A new growth trend has emerged pointing to the reorientation of the economy rather than to a cyclical recovery," he told government officials here, adding that the trend was now "from economic recovery to economic growth to sustained development."

The gross national product grew by a higher-than-expected 4.84 percent year on year, but some Filipino economists have suggested the economy was merely cresting the recovery phase of the old cycle.