THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the country’s economy grew faster in the third quarter of 2023 at 5.9 percent.
Per latest PSA data, this is a significant improvement from the 4.3-percent growth recorded in the previous quarter of this year.
According to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, this makes the country’s economic growth as the fastest among major emerging economies in Asia.
The latest PH Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate is higher than Vietnam at 5.3 percent, Indonesia and China at 4.9 percent, and Malaysia at 3.3 percent. These countries also released their third quarter GDP performances for the same period.
In a statement, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said that the economic team is pleased with the quicker third-quarter GDP growth which is attributable to the increase in government spending.
In August, the DBM issued Circular Letter No. 2023-10 in August, where it required agencies to submit catch-up plans to facilitate budget execution for the rest of 2023 to address underspending in the last quarter.
“We would like to thank President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who has been on top of the catch-up plans and personally called for a Cabinet meeting to ensure that we improve our economic performance. We would also like to thank and congratulate our national government agencies as we can see from this that the catch-up plans have already contributed to the improvement in GDP,” Secretary Pangandaman said.
The hike in public spending in the third quarter is notable, tempering the decline of overall gross capital formation. Year-on-year growth of Government Final Consumption Expenditure rose to 6.7 percent in the third quarter from negative 0.7 percent in the second quarter.
Moreover, according to PSA, the main contributors to the third quarter 2023 growth were wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, 5.0 percent; Financial and insurance activities, 9.5 percent; and Construction, 14.0 percent.