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The Philippine economy grew 7.1% in the third quarter from the same period last year
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The latest figure is slower than the 12% growth recorded in the second quarter
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But it is an improvement from the 11.6% contraction posted in the third quarter of 2020
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Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the country is on track to reach the high end of the country’s 4% to 5% growth target for 2021
The Philippine economy expanded 7.1% in the third quarter of 2021, putting the country on track to hitting the high end of its 4% to 5% growth target for 2021.
The third-quarter gross domestic product was an improvement from the 11.6% contraction in the same quarter in 2020, although slower than the adjusted 12% growth in the second quarter of 2021, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
On the production side, the industry sector expanded by 7.9%, while the services sector grew by 8.2%.
In contrast, agriculture declined by 1.7% as the increase in palay (rice) production was offset by typhoon damages to other agricultural crops and by the effects of the African Swine Fever outbreak in hog supply.
On the expenditure side, growth was primarily driven by household consumption, which grew by 7.1% and accounted for 5.2 percentage points of overall GDP growth.
Government expenditure, meanwhile, returned to a positive growth trend at 13.6%, reversing its contraction in the previous quarter.
Moreover, total investments jumped by 22%, driven by public and private construction that advanced by 55.3% and 12.2%, respectively.
On external trade, exports increased by 9% while imports rose by 13.2% in the third quarter of 2021.
In a joint statement by the country’s economic managers delivered by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, he said the “sustained economic expansion” in the third quarter of 2021 was achieved despite stringent quarantine measures during the period to contain the highly infectious COVID-19 Delta variant.
Chua said that with the third-quarter GDP expansion, “we are on track to reach the high-end of our 4 to 5% growth target for 2021.”
Year-to-date GDP growth is currently at 4.9%. Last year, the economy shrank 9.5%, the sharpest annual dip on record since 1946 as restrictions to the economy brought by the COVID-10 pandemic took their toll.
Chua said that to further sustain growth this year and next year, the government will further accelerate its vaccination program, reopen to Alert Level 1—the least strict quarantine status—in January 2022, and maximize the use of the 2021 budget.
