PBBM admin drives PH to become the fastest-growing economy among major Asian countries in 2023 despite headwinds

The Marcos, Jr. administration has led the Philippines to become the fastest-growing economy among major Asian countries in 2023, defying global challenges such as elevated inflation and slower growth.

The Philippine economy grew by 5.5 percent for the first three quarters of the year––the fastest among the major economies of China (5.2 percent), Indonesia (5.1 percent), Vietnam (4.2 percent), Malaysia (3.9 percent), Thailand (2.0 percent), and Singapore (0.5 percent).

“Despite elevated domestic and world inflation, slow global economic growth, trade restrictions, and geopolitical tensions, the Philippines remains to be among the brightest spots in the region,” Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said.

Economic expansion remained broad-based as all major production sectors posted positive year-on-year (YoY) growths in the first three quarters of the year, led by services (7.0 percent), industry (3.7 percent), and agriculture (1.1 percent).

Multilateral organizations recognize the strong economic performance of the Philippines and expect the country’s expansion to be one of the fastest among its regional peers in 2023 with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasting a growth of 5.7 percent, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) and World Bank (WB) at 5.6 percent, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at 5.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ external performance remains strong with gross international reserves (GIR) increasing to USD 102.7 billion as of end-November 2023, from USD 101.0 billion in end-October.

The current GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

This level also remains well above the IMF’s Assessing Reserve Adequacy (ARA) metric at 1.9 in 2023, remarkably higher than China’s 0.7, as well as Malaysia and Indonesia’s 1.1.

The Philippine peso likewise continues to be supported by structural foreign exchange inflows and ample international reserves.

The peso-dollar exchange rate settled at 55.38 pesos per US dollar on December 27, 2023, averaging PHP 55.63 year-to-date (YTD). This remains within the peso-dollar