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MANILA, Philippines — The country’s economy grew by 5.7% in the first three months of 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
The latest economic print is slower than last year’s growth in the same period with 6.4% but higher than the fourth quarter of 2023 with 5.5%.
PSA chief statistician Dennis Mapa attributed the economic growth to various sectors: financial and insurance activities saw a 10.0% increase, wholesale and retail trade including motor vehicle and motorcycle repairs grew by 6.4%, and manufacturing saw a 4.5% uptick.
The latest gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the country also missed the government’s target range of 6% to 7%.
Meanwhile, the gross national income (GNI) experienced a yearly increase of 9.7%, while the net primary income (NPI) from the rest of the world also grew by 57.0%.
Here are the growth figures for major economic sectors on a quarter-on-quarter basis:
- Agriculture, forestry, and fishing: -0.3%
- Industry: 2.6%
- Services: 1.0%.
However, household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) grew by 4.6%, the slowest since the third quarter in 2010, according to Mapa.
“Construction slowed down, no doubt affected by prolonged periods of extreme heat. Household spending also slowed due to elevated prices of major food items and the heat wave,” National Economic and Development Authority Chief Arsenio Balisacan. .
“People don’t want to go out. It’s so hot, I think that also affected the construction,” he added.
Elevation and high interest rates also contribute to the slowdown of the HFCE.
On April 8, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Monetary Board (MB) retained its target reversed repurchase rate at 6.5%.
This has been the MB retained its policy rates since its off-cycle rate hike in October 2023 to mitigate supply-side inflation pressures.
BSP Governor Eli Remolona said that the MB will stay “hawkish,” but does not consider any further tightening of policy rates.
Government spending also slowed due to a sliding amount of expenditure on April, according to Balisacan.
On Tuesday, the PSA reported that the country’s inflation quickened to 3.8% due to food and transport costs. — Ian Laqui
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Credit belongs to: www.philstar.com
