Manufacturing output climbed in 1st 9 months

The output by the manufacturing sector, including tobacco products, grew by another double-digit pace in September, indicating that the country was taking the crucial first steps toward industrialization. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The output by the manufacturing sector grew by another double-digit pace in September, indicating that the country was taking the crucial first steps toward industrialization.

The National Statistics Office on Tuesday reported that the volume of production by the country’s manufacturers grew by 16.3 percent in September from a year ago, slightly faster than the revised forecast of 16 percent in August.

In the first three quarters of the year, the average growth in manufacturing output in terms of volume grew by 10.54 percent—faster than the 5.6-percent registered in the same period last year.

The biggest contributors were chemical products (up 173 percent), furniture and fixtures (up 168 percent), leather goods (up 43 percent), tobacco products (up 34 percent) and basic metals (up 22 percent).

In terms of value of production, the NSO said, manufacturing output rose by 8.6 percent year on year in September, faster than the 8.2 percent recorded in the same month last year.

In the first three quarters, value of manufacturing production rose by 1.7 percent, slower than the 6 percent in the same period last year.

The favorable performance of the manufacturing sector so far this year was a welcome development, according to economists, given the country’s dire need to boost job creation and reduce poverty.

Unlike other sectors, they said, manufacturing has the capability to provide jobs to those from low-income groups and who have low educational attainment.

As such, economists said, industrialization, particularly the development of the manufacturing sector, would be vital crucial to the country’s quest to reduce poverty and achieve “inclusive growth.”

They said a favorable business climate should be sustained to enable the manufacturing sector to grow.

But to attain such a business climate, the country will need to redouble efforts to curb corruption, ease the process of setting up businesses, make credit more accessible, and provide higher investments in infrastructure and education.

Growth of the Philippine economy is described by economists as “non-inclusive”—driven mainly by the rising income of the rich and the middle class, while poverty incidence remains significant.

The government has acknowledged the dire need to support development of the manufacturing sector in order to achieve equitable economic growth.

Arsenio Balisacan, director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, earlier said that the promotion of the manufacturing sector was one of the key features of the updated Philippine Development Plan through 2016.

The updated PDP, which will be released before the end of the year, will provide details of the projects and programs of the government aimed at reducing poverty and sustaining robust economic growth.

The new development plan is supposed to include projects improving human capital to complement employment needs of manufacturers as well as investments in infrastructure needed by investors.—Michelle V. Remo