QUEZON CITY (PIA) -- The Marcos administration’s economic team welcomed the good news that the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) posted a growth of 7.6 percent in the third quarter of 2022.
In a statement, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the economic growth reflects the hard work of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and the Cabinet in pushing for progress towards the administration's agenda for prosperity in spite of external challenges.
"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.
For its part, the Philippine Statistics Authority attributed the economic growth to the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles at 9.1 percent; financial and insurance activities at 7.7 percent; and construction at 12.2 percent.
It added that contributing to the growth were major economic sectors namely: agriculture, forestry, and fishing, industry, and services which all posted positive growths in the third quarter of 2022 with 2.2 percent, 5.8 percent, and 9.1 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, economic managers attributed the robust economic performance in the third quarter 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 DBM said 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.
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. 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," Pangandaman stressed.
The Budget Secretary is 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 Director-General of the NEDA Secretariat, as co-chairman; and the Executive Secretary, Secretary of Finance, and the Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines, as members.
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. (PIA-PMD)
