00:00The Philippine economy grew at a faster pace in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the
00:06previous quarter, but the rate fell below expectations.
00:10The Philippine Statistics Authority on Thursday, May 9, reports the country's gross domestic
00:15product grew by 5.7 percent from January to March this year.
00:20This is higher than the revised 5.5 percent GDP growth reported for the fourth quarter
00:25last year, but lower than the 6.4 percent growth in the first quarter of 2023.
00:31It's also below the 5.9 percent growth projected by economists and analysts polled by Businessworld.
00:38Economic Secretary Arsenio Balisacan says, quote, construction slowed down, no doubt
00:43affected by prolonged periods of extreme heat.
00:46Household spending also slowed due to elevated prices of major food items and the heat wave.
00:52And spending also slowed down, which Balisacan attributed to a large amount of expenditure
00:57being moved to April.
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