The pessimist would call the economy’s performance this year as sailing through treacherous waters, while the optimist would often see the economy as resilient—a word some would argue is overused, abused to describe anything Filipino.
In the third quarter, the economy’s performance was slower-than-expected at 5.2 percent, blowing the wind out of the economy’s sails. Analysts attributed this to slower private consumption “The impact of the typhoons and both the El Nino in the first half of the year and the La Nina, has made a dent in the economy, particularly in agriculture and that contributed to the slowdown,” Balisacan told BusinessMirror.
PSA data showed the services sector grew 6.3 percent in the third quarter and averaged 6.7 percent in the first three quarters of the year.Despite these, former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Dante B. Canlas said inflation was the biggest concern this year—not just for the Philippines but all over the world.
He noted that this could be blamed for the tepid consumption of households this year. Faced with high prices, consumers tend to scrimp on various food and non-food items they purchase daily. “Big rice importers benefited from lower cost of imported rice. The effect of the anti-agricultural smuggling law passed in 2024 remains to be proven in the future, whether it is effective,” Patalinghug said.
However, the data also showed an 8.7-percent increase in the number of underemployed Filipinos. This covered those who were visibly underemployed and invisibly underemployed, which posted a year on year growth of 4.1 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively. Patalinghug said Cavite-Laguna Expressway, Central Luzon Link Expressway, MRT 7, North-South Commuter Railway, Metro Manila Subway, and the Grand Central Station in Trinoma were all delayed.
Patalinghug also noted that lower taxes was not included in the nine disincentives to investment in the Philippines as indicated in the US State Department Investment Climate Report. Ultimately, he said, these resulted in wasted government and legislative resources, preventing the economy to be more productive and dynamic.
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