The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) market started strong in January by averaging 6,910.85 points, which is a 5.47-percent increase over the 6,552.61-point average of December 2022.

The stock index also closed above 7,000 points eight times out of 20 trading days in January.

Investor sentiment in the Philippine stock market was very positive as 2022 ended because the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the first three quarters of the year was an impressive 7.7 percent.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also saw Philippine GDP growing by 7.4 percent in 2022 as revenge spending after the pandemic helped fuel much of the country’s economic growth.

“The Philippine economy has shown strong underlying growth momentum and resilience in 2022 and this is expected to continue in 2023, with GDP growth converging towards its longer term growth rate of about 6 percent,” ADB Country Director for the Philippines Kelly Bird said in a December 2022 press briefing.

In January 26, 2023, the government announced that the country’s GDP grew by 7.6 percent in 2022, causing the PSEi to average 6,910.85 points in the said month.

The 7.6-percent 2022 GDP growth is the highest since 1976.