Philippine economic growth slowed further in the April to June period to its lowest in 17 quarters, dragged by the delay in the passage of the budget that hit state spending, officials said.
Gross domestic product grew 5.5 per cent in the second quarter, from 6.2 per cent during the same period in 2018 and 5.6 per cent in the previous quarter. This compared with the median forecast of 5.9 per cent in separate polls by Bloomberg and Reuters.
Growth would have been 1 percentage point higher in the second quarter and in the first quarter had spending been on track, said Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon of the National Economic Development Authority.