Just under half of the Philippines' 89 million people live on $2 or less a day. About 14 percent live on a dollar a day.

In the slums and bazaars of Manila and the farming villages that dot the archipelago, Thursday's second quarter GDP figures showing growth of 7.5 percent mean very little.

'The economy is getting better only for those with money,' said Edwin Manaloto, a 40-year-old construction worker who abandoned farming in the rice-growing Isabela province north of Manila to work in the capital.

'What I was earning from farming was not enough because prices continue to rise and I want to keep the children in school,' said Manaloto, who was taking a break from construction of a new mall in the Makati business district of the capital.

Officials say full-year expansion could be sustained at 7.0 percent, the level at which economists agree poverty begins to be significantly reduced.

But a salesgirl who also came to Manila from Isabela said she could not sense any evidence of the growth surge.

'I can't feel it, life is still hard,' said Maricel Lubo Tagao, a 21-year-old selling bags and wallets at a stall in an office block.

'There's a drought in our province so there is no rice harvest. My parents plant rice and corn for a living and it's more difficult now in our province.'

Tagao said life was not much easier in the city.

'I have to pay for rent and food and it's not cheap,' she said.

ARROYO BULLISH

A beaming President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced the growth figures at the Malacanang palace on Thursday, saying that the Philippines was on the cusp of a new era.

'Our economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with one of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in two decades,' she said. 'We should not rest, instead we should charge ahead and sustain the momentum.

'In the next three years, we will translate the positive results of our economic reforms to real benefits for the people.'

Arroyo was visibly irked when a reporter questioned the veracity of the latest GDP figures. 'Are you saying that the NSCB (National Statistical Coordination Board) people are liars?,' she asked.

But government data is often revised in later months and HSBC Markets (Asia) commented in a note after Thursday's announcement: 'We suspect that growth may be overstated.'

But even those better off said they could see little in their lives that would reflect the economy's expansion – more this year than at any time in the past two decades.

'I'm in business and it's been OK so far,' said Hershey Chan, 30, a jewellery designer based in the capital.

'Doing business here is good because manpower here is cheap. But we can't sell our products here because we compete with machine-made, mass-produced items from China. So I export my products,' Chan said.

'The way I see it, everyone is going abroad. What will happen to the Philippines in 10 years if people continue to leave the country? There may be no more entrepreneurs left by then,' she said.

About one-tenth of the population lives and works overseas, mostly as maids and merchant seamen. But the remittances they send home, likely to reach a record $14 billion this year, form one of the main drivers of the economy.

Consumption, which makes up about 70 percent of GDP, has soared this year, mostly with purchases of goods and property from funds sent home by overseas Filipinos.

Others say they see positive changes as a result of the growth, but it is patchy.

'Yes, they have delivered services and infrastructure,' said a woman who runs a small food store in Dipolog City on the southern island of Mindinao.

'But they cannot boast that growth is widespread and people are contented. Many continue to struggle,' she said.