Philippine economic growth slowed to0.4 percent in the first quarter as the global economic crisis eased consumption and weakened the manufacturing sector, the government said Thursday.
The gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the January-March period was down from 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008, the National Statistical Coordination Board said.
This is the lowest GDP growth rate posted by the Philippine economy since the fourth quarter of 1998 when GDP contracted by 2.4 percent at the height of the Asian financial crisis.
"The Philippine economy continued to bear the brunt of troubled global economy," Philippine Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said.
Recto previously expected the economy to grow above 2 percent in the first quarter.
"A big challenge to the economic managers during the remaining month of the second quarter is the fact that the Philippine economy is now teetering into recession," said Romulo Virola, the board's secretary general.
Indeed, the modest growth in both farm and services sector which expanded by 2.1 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively failed to offset the sharp decline in the manufacturing and exports sectors.
Consumption likewise slowed as Filipinos hold off from spending and preferring to save.
Exports fell by 18.2 percent in the first quarter on waning global demand. Likewise, the manufacturing sector fell by 7.3 percent.
Gross national product, which includes income from abroad, such as remittances of millions of overseas Filipinos, slowed to 4.4 percent in the first three months of 2009, compared with 6.4 percent in the same period last year.
Source: Xinhua
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