The slow growth of the Philippine economy in the second quarter of the year affirms its unresolved weaknesses and the need for more out-of-the-box policy reforms, the IBON foundation said in its press release.

The service sector was still the main source of growth rather than the more directly productive agricultural and manufacturing sectors, which both slowed this quarter, the press release said.

Gross domestic product grew 5.9percent in the second quarter, which brought first semester growth to 6.1 percent.

But the persistent weakness of the economy is highlighted by how seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter GDP growth was only 0.2 percent which is the worst performance in thirteen quarters since the negative 2.4 percent growth in the first quarter of 2009, the press release also said.

The inclusiveness and sustainability of growth is undermined by how the important agriculture and manufacturing sectors both significantly slowed, it added.

The research group noted that the services sector contributed the most to growth.

The biggest part of this growth however came from the very low value-added and low-paying trade subsector, which grew more rapidly at 7.3percent in the second quarter from 2.5percent last year, the press release said.*

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