Philippine economy grew by 7.2% in 2013

Philippine economy posted a growth of 7.2 percent in 2013 despite the series of calamities that struck the country in the last quarter of the year, the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) said Thursday. PSA said the country's economy managed to grow by 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter--a period when devastating natural disasters such as super typhoon Haiyan and a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit central Philippines. "Economic performance could have been better without the disasters," National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Arsenio Balisacan told reporters in a press briefing. Balisacan said the siege in southern Philippines has also affected the country's economy last year. Despite this, he said the Philippines remains as one of the " best performing" economies in Asia, just behind China which grew by 7.7 percent. PSA said Philippine economy in 2013 was boosted by the services and industry sectors. The services sector grew by 7.1 percent while the industry sector posted a growth of 9.5 percent. Balisacan said the strong performance of the industry sector was driven by the manufacturing sector which expanded by 10.5 percent. He said Philippine economy will continue to perform well this year. The government is targeting to grow gross domestic product by 6.5 to 7.5 percent in 2014.