PSA revises Q3 GDP growth to 7% from 7.1%

The economy as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7 percent in the third quarter of 2016, the statistics office said on Wednesday, citing a revision to the national income accounts.

"The top three contributors to the revision were financial intermediation, real estate-renting and business activities, and agriculture and forestry," the PSA said on Wednesday.

Three industrial sector components were revised lower, according to PSA data, shaving 0.2 percentage points off the sectoral growth.

The industry sector growth was revised to 8.4 percent from 8.6 percent, the services sector to 6.8 percent from 6.9 percent, while the agriculture sector did not change at 2.9 percent.

The top three contributors to the revision, meanwhile, were upward adjustments in  financial intermediation to 8.5 percent from 8.1 percent, real estate-renting and business activities to 8.9 percent from 8.8 percent and agriculture and forestry to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent.

The revisions brought the GDP in the first nine months of the year to 6.9 percent, from 7 percent, PSA data showed.

"The PSA revises the GDP estimates based on an approved revision policy which is consistent with international standard practices on national accounts revisions," the statistics office noted.

Emmanuel Leyco, economics professor at the Asian Institute of Management, said revising the GDP numbers is a regular step done by the PSA.

"I don't think this is bothersome, particularly because the adjustments are not really significant," Leyco noted.

In November last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported the GDP grew by 7.1 percent in the third quarter.

The 7.1 percent GDP growth was the fastest among emerging Asian markets in the third quarter of 2016.

At 7.0 percent the revised GDP growth rate is within the 6.3 to 7.3 percent expected by the government for July to September.

The revision comes a day before the statistics office is set to release the fourth quarter GDP data. — VS, GMA News