RP in mild recession – Recto

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Monday described the worse-than-expected first quarter economic growth results as “a mild recession.”

“You can call it [first quarter economic growth] a mild recession with mild growth. It’s almost flat,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto told reporters.

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) earlier reported that the economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) grew by only 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year from 3.9 percent in the same period last year.

A proxy for economic output, GDP is the amount of goods and services produced in a country.
The first-quarter GDP was the weakest since the fourth quarter of 1998, when the economy contracted by 2.4 percent.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, the economy contracted by 2.3 percent, the lowest in 20 years.

But Recto said there was a possibility that the 0.4-percent GDP growth in the first quarter could be revised later on with a better number.

For the full year, Recto said the Development Budget and Coordinating Committee (DBCC) was set to revise downward the economic growth target this year of between 3.1 percent and 4.1 percent. “But, there’s no possibility of a contraction [in the economic growth target for 2009].”

Manila Times