Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 26) — The sharp increase in commodity prices failed to spoil the Philippines’ economic expansion in 2022, with last year’s growth rate at 7.6% being its strongest since 1976, a government official said.
During a press briefing on Thursday, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said that the local economy expanded by 7.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022, albeit at a slower pace against the third quarter’s 7.6%.
The latest figure is also above the 6.74% average yield of a CNN Philippines poll of 11 economists, with some analysts citing inflation as a threat to the country’s economic growth.
READ: Inflation may have dampened Q4 economic growth — analysts
The figure, however, pushed the full-year 2022 economic expansion to 7.6%, even exceeding the government’s target ceiling for the year.
“[It] is the highest since 1976 under the 2018 base year. That time in 1976, the GDP growth was recorded at 8.8%,” Mapa said.
The major industries that bolstered the economy last year were wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; manufacturing; and construction.
For National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, the fourth quarter performance could have been higher if not for skyrocketing inflation.
Inflation rate in December 2022 alone soared to a fresh 14-year high at 8.1%, the highest since November 2008.
But thanks to improvements in labor market conditions, the resumption of face-to-face classes, and pent-up demand in the quarter, the Philippines posted the fastest growth in the region, even beating China.
“There’s a lot of employment generating activities, that raised the demand. ‘Yung sinasabi natin ‘yung pent-up demand (The pent-up demand that we’re referring), people just want to go out and spend,” Balisacan said.
This 2023, the NEDA chief said the Philippines might be affected by the expected “sharp slowdown” in major economies.
