DEMAND for the Christmas season will help drive growth in domestic trade in the third quarter (Q3) of the year, an economist said on Friday.

'Domestic trade could seasonally pick up in the third quarter in view of the seasonal increase in importation and other manufacturing and production activities in preparation for the seasonal increase in demand in the fourth quarter, especially during the Christmas holiday season,' Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort told the Philippine News Agency in an interview.