Philippine Economy booms with 7.3 percent GDP growth

A glorious ending for the Arroyo administration and a beneficent beginning welcomes the Aquino administration as GDP boomed with a growth of 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010 from 0.5 percent last year. Except for Agriculture which was parched by the El Niño dry spell and the saturated communication subsector, all subsectors of the economy drew vigor from the global economic recovery, election related stimuli and the unbridled growth of income of our OFWs.  Manufacturing rebounded astoundingly, supported by hefty contributions from trade and private services, particularly recreational and business services. 

On the demand side, increased consumer and government spending boosted by the solid performance of external trade and increased investments in fixed capital formation contributed to the highest economic growth since the second quarter of 2007.

With the worst of the global crisis seemingly over, notwithstanding lingering concerns over eurozone, the sustained strong demand for the services and expertise of Filipinos abroad contributed to the 24.9 percent growth of Net Factor Income from Abroad (NFIA) from 28.7 percent last year, pushing GNP to grow by 9.5 percent from 3.3 percent the previous year.  This is the highest GNP growth since the fourth quarter of 1988.

With the decline of palay, corn and sugarcane, the seasonally adjusted Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry sector posted zero growth in the first quarter after declining by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Industry grew impressively by 3.8 percent from an already record 6.3 percent gain in the previous quarter.  The substantial rebound of the manufacturing sector contributed to the sustained growth of industry.

Services sector likewise posted a 3.6 percent growth for the first quarter of 2010 after declining by 0.1 percent in the previous quarter, as private services, trade and finance sub sectors posted substantively positive growths. 

With projected population reaching 93.3 million at a slower pace than the growth of the domestic economy, per capita GDP grew by 5.3 from a decline of 1.4 percent.  Per capita GNP grew by 7.4 percent from 1.3 percent while per capita PCE expanded by 3.9 percent from its year ago growth of 1.0 percent.