Industry revenue growth slowed amid high inflation in Q3 2018

DRY GOODS
Store keepers wait for customers at stalls selling dry goods in Commonwealth Market in Quezon City in this file photo taken in September 2018. The latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released on Jan. 2019 showed that the gross revenue index growth posted during the July to September 2018 period was lower than the 8.6-percent expansion a year ago.
INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines–The growth in major industries’ gross revenues slightly slowed to 8.1 percent in the third quarter of last year, reflecting an also slower economic expansion amid higher-than-expected consumer prices during the period.

The latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released Thursday showed that the gross revenue index growth posted during the July to September 2018 period was lower than the 8.6-percent expansion a year ago.

To recall, gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of 2018 slowed to a three-year low of 6.1 percent as consumers tightened their belts amid elevated prices of essential commodities.

Headline inflation hit an over nine-year high of 6.7 percent in September as food prices soared due to domestic supply bottlenecks, coupled with skyrocketing global oil prices during that time.

Between July and September, revenues of the finance sector grew 13.5 percent; real estate, up 13.4 percent; manufacturing, 12.4 percent; private services, 8.8 percent; transportation and communication, 7.2 percent; and trade, 7 percent.

As revenue growth eased, the growth of the total employment index also declined to 1.1 percent during the third quarter of last year from the 1.5-percent rise posted in 2017.

In terms of job creation, the most significant growth was posted in the electricity and water sector, with a 3.4-percent increase.

Jobs in the trade sector rose 2.8 percent; finance and private services, both 2.3 percent; real estate as well as transportation and communication, 1.7 percent; and manufacturing, 0.3 percent.

Employment in the mining and quarrying sector, meanwhile, dropped by 3.2 percent in the third quarter of 2018.

As for workers’ pay, the total compensation index across major industries grew 7.1 percent, also slightly below a year ago’s 7.3 percent.

“All industries contributed to the growth of total compensation: electricity and water with 12.1 percent; real estate with 9.5 percent; transportation and communication with 9.1 percent; private services with 7.2 percent; manufacturing with 6.5 percent; mining and quarrying with 3.6 percent; trade with 2.8 percent; and finance with 0.7 percent,” the PSA said. /jpv