Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno reassured the public that the economy is on a steady path to recovery and expansion, as demonstrated by the broad-based 7.4 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter of 2022.
“All three major sectors — agriculture, industry, and services — posted positive growth rates despite the increase in international commodity prices, indicating a rebound in overall economic activity,” said Secretary Diokno, citing the June 2022 GDP report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
According to PSA, the services sector grew the highest at 9.1 percent followed by industry at 6.3 percent; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 0.2 percent.
“Private domestic demand likewise expanded with household consumption (8.6 percent growth rate) and gross capital formation (20.5 percent growth rate) providing robust support to the economy, Secretary Diokno added.
He said the strong growth in the second quarter reflects the increase in mobility, better labor conditions, and government’s support to growth.
The robust economic performance for the second quarter remains within the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) GDP growth target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent for 2022.
“Our growth figure of 7.4 percent of GDP sits comfortably at the higher end of our target band for the year. This is an impressive achievement, more so with the ongoing challenges of rising inflation worldwide and an uncertain global political economy,” said Secretary Diokno.
Secretary Diokno added that real GDP growth for the first half of the year averaged at 7.8 percent, above the DBCC target.
He also emphasized that the DBCC growth targets for the year remain doable given bright economic prospects.
“In order to achieve the lower bound of the growth forecast of 6.5 percent, the Philippine economy has to grow by only 5.2 percent in the second half of the year. To achieve the upper bound of 7.5 percent, the economy has to grow by 7.6 percent,” he said.
In a separate statement, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that GDP growth for the second quarter places the Philippines as the second best-performing nation among the region’s major emerging economies that have released their second quarter reports, next to Vietnam’s 7.7 percent but faster than Indonesia’s 5.4 percent, and China’s 0.4 percent.
Secretary Diokno said that the country’s economic performance for the second quarter of this year affirms that the country is on a steady path to recovery and rapid expansion in the period to come.
“Moving forward, we will continue the ongoing infrastructure program, maintain macroeconomic stability, and take advantage of the recently approved amendments to the Public Service Act (PSA), Foreign Investments Act (FIA), and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA) to foster investment-led recovery,” said Secretary Diokno.
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