Industrial production in the Philippines, which measures the performance of the various industrial units such as manufacturing, mining and others, rose 2 percent in volume terms in December. In value terms, industrial production grew 2.6 percent.
This developed Wednesday in the wake of a downward revision in industrial production gains in November to only 1.8 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
According to the Philippine Statistical Office, the readings resulted from accelerated growth in the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and preparation growing 38.4 percent in December from only 11.1 percent in November, coke and refined petroleum products of another 32.5 percent versus 28.8 percent and electrical equipment of31.9 percent versus 29.6 percent.
The manufacturing sector in 2023 grew 5.9 percent, sharply down from 22.5 percent the year before.
The index rose and fell during the year and recently reported at a high 10.1 percent in September after which it dropped to 1.1 percent in October.
