The Philippines is likely to exceed its lower end economic growth target of 6.5 percent for this year, government's top economist said on Thursday.

In a press briefing in Malacanang, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said, "it's probable that we can exceed that lower end of our target."

He made the forecast after the Asian Development Bank raised its gross domestic product outlook for the Philippines from 6.4 percent to 6.5 percent in 2017 and from 6.6 percent to 6.7 percent next year.

Pernia welcomed ADB's new GDP growth forecast for the Philippines.

"Well, 6.5 percent is the lower range of our target. Our target for this year is 6.5 to 7.5 percent. So that seems to be logical and, you know, international agencies, international organizations --- private or government --- tend to be a bit more conservative than the government itself --- than our government itself," he said.

He said the government has to set higher growth targets "because we want to exert more effort to achieve the targets."

The Philippine economy grew 6.4 percent in the first quarter of this year. The government has yet to release the second quarter GDP expansion. Celerina Monte/DMS