FMIC forecasts lower fourth quarter GDP

First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and the University of Asia and the Pacific said that the country’s economy growth as measured in gross domestic product (GDP), may expand “7.3 percent in the third quarter” but can go below 6 percent in the fourth quarter, because of the devastation brought by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

FMIC Chairman Roberto Juanchito Dispo said in the monthly The Market Call that the super typhoon may severely impact economic growth figures for the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2014, but said that overall economic outlook should remain positive.