The Philippine Gross Domestic Product posted a growth of 4.3 percent in the second quarter of 2023.
Claire Dennis Mapa, undersecretary of the Philippine Statistics Authority, attributed the main contributors to the second quarter 2023 growth to wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, 5.3 percent; Financial and insurance activities, 5.0 percent; and Transportation and storage, 17.3 percent.
Major economic sectors, namely: Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, Industry, and Services all posted positive growths in the second quarter of 2023 with 0.2 percent, 2.1 percent, and 6.0 percent, respectively, Mapa said.
On the demand side, Household Final Consumption Expenditure grew by 5.5 percent in the second quarter of 2023. The following items also increased: Exports of goods and services, 4.1 percent, and Imports of goods and services, 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, Government Final Consumption Expenditure and Gross capital formation posted a contraction of -7.1 percent and -0.04 percent, respectively.
The Gross National Income grew by 8.6 percent in the second quarter of 2023.
Likewise, Net Primary Income from the Rest of the World grew by 90.6 percent during the period.
Prof. Andrew Karl Delios, vice dean at the MSc Programmes Office of the Department of Strategy & Policy at the NUS Business School in Singapore, noted that the Philippine growth figures represents a good rebound from the COVID quarters of negative growth.
“While the year-over-year Q2 numbers show a decline, there is real growth as the economic growth outpaces the growth in labour supply in the Philippines. But, it is still imperative for the Philippines to sustain growth of around six percent each year, per the pre-covid decade,” Delios said in a statement to the media.
“The Philippines is a consumption heavy, but manufacturing light economy. Hence, we would expect a greater contribution to growth coming from primary and secondary industries as the Philippines moves to become a more important contributor to the ASEAN region, in-line with its positive demographic projections over the next few decades,” he added.
Unsurprisingly, growth continues to come from industries associated with foreign remittances and other external dependencies to the economy – wholesale and retail trade, automotive services and transportation and storage. More growth from the aforementioned manufacturing and continued expansion of venture capitalist and private equity investment in new ventures, which has also been a positive growth area of the Philippines post-CoViD, would be helpful towards greater medium-term optimism about the Philippines economy. (PR)
