Philippine GDP Growth Worst Since 2021

(RTTNews) - The Philippines' economic growth hit the worst since 2021 as natural calamities and probes on government infrastructure spending weighed on sentiment and domestic activity.

Gross domestic product registered an annual growth of 4.0 percent in the third quarter after rising 5.5 percent in the preceding quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.

This was the weakest growth in the current sequence of expansion that began in the second quarter of 2021 and was also slower than economists' forecast of 5.2 percent.

The government aims to achieve 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent economic growth this year. On a quarterly basis, the economy expanded 0.4 percent in the third quarter compared to the expected growth of 0.8 percent.

On the expenditure-side, household spending rose at a slower pace of 4.1 percent from a year ago after a 5.3 percent gain. Likewise, growth in government expenditure slowed to 5.8 percent from 8.7 percent a quarter ago.

Exports of goods and services grew 7 percent, faster than the 4.7 percent rise in the prior quarter. Meanwhile, imports rose 2.6 percent but weaker than the 3.5 percent growth in the preceding period.

By contrast, gross capital formation fell 2.8 percent, reversing the second quarter's 1.2 percent increase.