PHL Manufacturing Growth Seen at 10%

Manila — Moody’s Analytics, a division of Moody’s Corporation, has forecast that the Philippines’ manufacturing sector to grow by 10 percent for the month of May.

This is prior to the country’s manufacturing report for May that will be published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Thursday next week.

Moody’s Analytics remains optimistic with the growth of Philippines’ manufacturing sector despite slower industry production early this year, following the onslaught of typhoon ‘Yolanda’ (Haiyan).

“Industrial production has recovered after slowing through the first quarter following the November typhoon,” mentioned Moody’s Analytics.

The 10 percent growth for the month of May, however, is slower than April 2014’s actual industry production growth of 12.8 percent.

“Exports have been growing quickly over the past nine months. Net sales, however, remain weak,” Moody’s Analytics added.

For the first four months of 2014 alone, PSA reported that exports of goods only grew by 5.51 percent to USD 18.88 billion against last year’s same period of USD 17.89 billion.

Aside from Philippines, Moody’s Analytics also projected Malaysia’s manufacturing growth by 3.5 percent for May 2014, slightly slower than months of March and April growth of 4.0 percent.

Malaysia’s manufacturing report is also expected to be released next Thursday. (PNA) LAM/KMC