The Philippine economy fell to its lowest in 14 years as it grew four percent in the third quarter due to lower government expenditure caused by ''stricter validation measures'' for the Department of Public Works and Highways civil works'' due to flood control projects scandal and consumer spending, officials said Friday.

Philippine Statistics Authority Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa said the economy grew three percent in the third quarter of 2011. The government of the late President Benigno Aquino III then was in the midst of a crackdown on corruption.

Mapa said government construction spending declined 26.2 percent, the lowest since the third quarter of 2011 when it went down by 22.5 percent.

Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development, said the country's economic managers were ''surprised'' with the four percent gross domestic product.

''Even us, ourselves the economic team who are so used to looking at the behavior of the economy and we see a major departure. It is unexpected,'' he said a televised press conference. ''We have to recover the lost ground.''

Balisacan said this tempered the effects of the rate cuts of the central bank and the low inflation.

He said the government is ''committed to rebuilding investor confidence by ensuring every peso of taxpayer money is spent wisely and efficiently.''

He said the growth targets for this year will be reviewed as even reaching the lower end of the growth target would be a challenge.

The government set a growth goal of 5.5-6.5 percent but Balisacan said '' it is very challenging to meet already even the lower range.''

He added that household spending went down by 4.1 percent as'' consumer confidence may have been affected by the ongoing probes and discussions on government infrastructure spending, prompting many households to postpone purchases, especially durable goods.''

Balisacan said ''widespread cancellations of school, work and travel activities due to typhoons likely dampened spending.'' DMS