GDP growth falls to eight-year low of 5.9% in 2019

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine economy grew 5.9 percent in 2019, its slowest pace in eight years, no thanks to delayed approval of last year’s national budget.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday reported that the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019.

While fourth-quarter GDP expansion was the fastest quarterly growth that year, it failed to lift the full-year figure to within the government’s downscaled 6-6.5 percent target range.

Based on the latest PSA data, GDP growth in 2019 was the lowest annual rate since 2011’s 3.7 percent.

As early as Wednesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia already conceded that achieving last year’s growth goal was “unlikely” after the PSA revised the third-quarter figure to 6 percent from 6.2 percent previously.