MANILA -- Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman joined President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the economic managers in welcoming the good news of the country’s high-growth performance of 7.6 percent GDP growth in Q3 of 2022.
The economic managers attributed the robust economic performance in Q3 to continuing efforts to push and open the economy, increased mobility with the reopening of face-to-face classes of about 28 million learners, faster vaccination rollout, and initiatives to bring down unemployment and poverty incidence in the country. The growth rate was also due in large part to faster growth in wholesale and retail services, financial and insurance activities, and the construction industry.
The Q3 growth jumpstarts the first out of 24 quarters of economic recovery and transformation under President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. The positive growth is consistent with the overall goal of the current administration to reinvigorate job creation and poverty reduction. The Q3 GDP and fiscal performance is expected to steer the economy back to its high-growth path in the near-term.
"This is truly good news and reflects the hard work of the President and the Cabinet in pushing for progress towards our Agenda for Prosperity in spite of external challenges," Secretary Pangandaman said.
"The 7.6% growth shows that socioeconomic objectives can be achieved amid a high inflationary environment, tightening monetary policy stance and even the depreciating peso against the US dollar," the Budget Secretary added.
Valuable assistance came in the form of mobilized resources for farmers’ high value crop program; unconditional cash transfers for securing farm inputs such as fertilizer and oil farm machinery; and free public transportation rides for students. Significant releases during the third quarter were also made for health workers in the private and public sectors.
The economic managers hope to sustain this growth by taking advantage of economic opportunities and targeted programs such as the Targeted Cash Transfer (TCT) Program, Fuel Subsidy Program, Fuel Discount Program, and Service Contracting Program.
"This confirms that the outlook for the economy is positive," Pangandaman stressed. "We continue to support this with a firm fiscal consolidation plan. We can move forward with confidence that the Philippine economy is sound and far from recession."
The Budget Secretary is the chairman of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), which designed the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework and the 8-Point Socio-economic Agenda of the current administration. The DBCC is composed of the Secretary of Budget and Management, as chairman; the Department of Finance, as co-chairman; and the principals of the National Economic and Development Authority and Office of the President as members. The Governor of the Central Bank serves as a resource person.
According to World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP), the Philippines is projected to grow at one of the fastest paces among ASEAN economies this year. (DBM)
