THE Philippine Statistics Authority on Thursday said that the Philippine economy slightly grew during the first quarter of the year.
However, it was at a turtle’s pace after the country exited the pandemic-induced recession in the middle of 2021.
The PSA said that the economy’s gross domestic product (GDP) or the total value of goods and services produced in a specific period, grew by 6.4% during the January to March 2023.
It is actually slower that the 8% growth rate in the first quarter of 2022 and lower than the downwardly revised 7.1% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.
“Ito din ang pinakamababang paglago matapos ang pitong quarter nang magsimula ang pagbangon ng bansa mula sa pandemiya noong ikalawang quarter ng 2021,” National Statistician Dennis Mapa said.
The Philippines had been pushing to revive the economy since the pandemic struck.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., had been making rounds to different countries in a bid to push the Philippines as an investment hub.
Millions upon millions of investment pledges had been made which is expected to generate more jobs and increase the economy of the Philippines.
In 2021, the economy was said to have pulled out of recession during the second quarter of 2021 as the GDP growth rate was recorded at 12%.
But National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that “we need to exercise caution in interpreting this as a slowdown since the previous year’s growth came from a low base.”
“Rather, the economy is normalizing its previous trend,” Balisacan said.
The Marcos administration had expected a slowdown in major advanced economies, to which they trimmed their economic growth projection for 2023 at 6.0% to 7.0% range from its earlier forecast of 6.5% to 8.0%.
Catherine R. Cueto
