Recovering Philippine economy headed in right direction – Speaker

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration is on the right track when it comes to its efforts to revive the economy that was battered by recession as a result of the more than two-year pandemic where many workers lost their jobs, Speaker Martin Romualdez said yesterday.

“The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is managing the economy well as shown by the higher-than-expected growth in the first quarter of 2023,” he said.

The leader of the House of Representatives made the remarks following the latest report from the Philippine Statistics Authority that the economy grew by 6.4 percent from January to March this year.

Romualdez also assured the people that the economy remains on the high-growth path.

The Speaker said the economy expanded by 7.6 percent in the third quarter and 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, or when Marcos was already President, as the economy started to reopen and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, the Leyte congressman also pointed out that the high growth quarters of 2022 and the first quarter of this year coincided with the first nine months of the Marcos administration.

“The average economic expansion during that period is 7.07 percent, which is a respectable growth rate that is slightly higher than the median of last year’s growth target of 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent. So, the economy is in good hands,” he stressed.

The Speaker noted that the 6.4-percent growth in the first quarter is almost in the middle of this year’s expansion goal of six percent to seven percent. “So, our first quarter growth rate is within target,” he said.

The administration stalwart and president of dominant political party Lakas-CMD said the Philippines “was the star economic performer in the first quarter among ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members, plus China and India.”