Philippine Economy Posts 6.8% GDP Growth in 4Q2012

The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.8% in the fourth quarter of 2012, paving the way for the full-year GDP estimate to post a broad-based growth of 6.6%. The increase was fueled by the robust performance of the Services sector led by Trade and Real Estate, Renting & Business Activities as well as the substantial improvements of Manufacturing and Construction.

On the demand side, Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) together with government spending, the recovery of capital formation and the remarkable performance of the external trade contributed to the healthy growth of the economy in the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2012.

On an annual basis, Gross National Income (GNI) and Net Primary Income from the rest of the world (NPI) expanded to 5.8% and 3.3% in 2012 from 3.2% and 1%, respectively in 2011. In the fourth quarter, NPI increased by 0.9% in 2012 from 6.2% in the same period in 2011 resulting to GNI’s growth of 5.4% in 2012 from 4.5% in the previous year.

Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted GDP and GNI grew by 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively during the current quarter. The Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing (AHFF) and the Services sectors rose by 0.1% and 1.2%, respectively, while the Industry sector expanded by 2.5% due to the growth of Construction and Manufacturing.

With the robust economic growth in 2012, per capita GDP accelerated to 4.8% from 2.2% in 2011 while per capita GNI climbed by 4% in 2012 from 1.5% in 2011. On the other hand, per capita Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE), slightly decelerated to 4.4% from 4.5%.

With the 6.8 percent GDP growth in the fourth quarter, per capita GDP, GNI, and HCFE rose to 5.1% from 2.3%, 3.7% from 2.8%, and 5.2% from 4.6%, respectively.