The Philippine economy expanded at a 6.6 percent annual rate from October to last month, the slowest pace of expansion for the year, although full-year annual growth clocked in at a relatively brisk 6.8 percent, officials said yesterday.
Robust domestic demand underpinned growth in the fourth quarter, helping to offset a contraction in agriculture and slowing government spending, Philippine Secretary for Socioeconomic Planning Ernesto Pernia said.
The 6.8 percent expansion for the year was at the high end of the government’s target of 6 percent to 7 percent growth. Growth in the past seven years has averaged 6.3 percent.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte inherited a relatively vibrant economy when he took office in June last year. He has pledged to slash the poverty rate, but investors are wary of his brutal anti-drug campaign that has left more than 7,000 dead and his rhetoric against the US, other Western governments, the UN and human rights groups.
The 6.6 percent growth in the three-month period was lower than the 7 percent growth in the previous quarter, but up from 6.3 percent growth in the last quarter of 2015.
Growth usually slows after a new president takes office, as investors adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude, Pernia said.
The latest data were a “testament that our economy remains robust and is growing at a healthy and steady pace,” he said.
He forecast that the economy would attain this year’s official target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent annual growth, which could accelerate to 7 percent to 8 percent in the medium term.
The government hopes to gain “upper middle-income” status for the Philippines, which would require raising gross national income per capita to more than US$8,000 from less than half that now, Pernia said.
The government also aims to help 6 million out of 22 million Filipinos escape poverty by 2022.
The Philippines has a population of nearly 104 million people.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last