Philippines says sees economy growing in 2009

Published: 25 Aug 2009 20:13:40 PST

MANILA, Aug 26 - The Philippine economy will not slip into a recession and is expected to post growth for the whole of 2009, the economic planning chief said on Wednesday. "The Philippines is not going into recession. We will still exhibit positive economic growth for the whole year of 2009," Augusto Santos told reporters. The government is scheduled to release official second-quarter gross domestic product data on Thursday. In the first quarter, the economy contracted 2.3 percent against the previous quarter on a seasonally-adjusted basis.