Philippine Q3 GDP growth “much better than consensus forecast” -Finance Minister

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine economic growth in the third quarter was “much better than consensus forecast”, the finance minister said on Thursday ahead of the official release of data.

A slew of positive data, including the lowest unemployment rate since the start of pandemic, strong remittance inflows and a rise in reserves supported better than expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the July to September period, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno told Reuters.

“All these will be summarised by the higher than expected Q3 GDP growth rate,” Diokno said.

Analysts polled by Reuters forecast third-quarter GDP grew 6.3% on an annual basis. Official data will be released at around 0200 GMT.

The Southeast Asian nation’s second-quarter GDP grew 7.5% versus a year ago.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Ed Davies)