The Philippines' economic growth likely picked up in the first three-months of the year as revenue collection of the two main-tax agencies exceeded their targets, the Department of Finance (DoF) said.

Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran, said the tax and customs revenue collection exceeded their targets in January to March, indicating that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) may grow higher than expected.

“I think it's higher because we exceeded our tax collection goal,” Beltran said.

Latest data from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs show collections were higher than the recent estimate.

The BIR's collections exceeded by P15 billion the first quarter target of P157.7 billion while Customs topped by P8.75 billion its aim of P55.1 billion.

Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos, earlier said GDP growth may have been better in the first quarter than in the fourth quarter of last year of 1.8 percent.

In January to March last year, the country's economy inched up only by 0.4 percent.

Santos said the effects of El Niño on agriculture output and the power shortage would be offset by strong overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remittances and the rebound of exports.

The government earlier reported that the damage to agriculture caused by the El Niño phenomenon amounted to P8 billion as of March.