The domestic economy gathered pace in the third quarter as all major sectors of the economy—services, agriculture and industry—printed growth while consumer and government spending gathered momentum.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said gross domestic product rose 5.9 percent in the July-September period after rising 4.3 percent in the second quarter but slower than the 7.7 percent growth in third quarter of 2022. GDP rose 4.7 percent from the second quarter.
“We are pleased to announce that the Philippine economy continued to grow despite major headwinds that we have experienced and continue to experience,” Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told a news conference on the third quarter economic performance.
He said the “marked improvement” in third quarter GDP print makes the Philippine expansion the fastest among major emerging economies in Asia that have so far released their third quarter numbers—Vietnam at 5.3 percent, Indonesia and China at 4.9 percent, and Malaysia at 3.3 percent.
GDP growth averaged 5.5 percent in the first nine months of the year, which Balisacan said will require the economy to expand by at least 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter to hit the bottom end of the government’s growth target this year of between 6 percent and 7 percent.
Economic growth was broadly based, with services increasing 6.8 percent, agriculture rising 0.9 percent, and industry 5.5 percent. In terms of their specific contribution to the 5.9 percent GDP growth, services added 4.4 percentage points, industry contributed 1.5 percentage points while agriculture added 0.08 percentage point.
Balisacan said the government plans to spend more in agriculture to combat the adverse effects of El Nino, which is expected to last into early 2024, and minimize its impact on farmers and consumers.
He said the government also remains focused on efforts to combat high inflation, particularly in managing supply and demand of commodities.
