INCREASED consumption, spending and capital formation would help the Philippines hit the lower end of the government’s 6- to 7-percent target range this year, an analyst from ING Bank Manila said.

In a statement, ING Bank Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said the country would “be making a mad dash to the finish line, with [the] PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) indicating that 4Q (fourth quarter) GDP (gross domestic product) will need to clock in at 6.7 percent for the Philippine economy to get its nose right past the 6-percent finish line.”