The economy until the third quarter was one of the fastest-growing in Asia despite global challenges including lingering inflation fears and geopolitical tensions.

Economic growth settled at 5.2 percent in the third quarter of the year, bringing the average expansion to 5.8 percent in the first three quarters.

The indicator during the period outpaced Malaysia (5.2 percent), Indonesia (5.0 percent), China (4.8 percent) and Singapore (3.8 percent).

Growth was mainly driven by robust capital formation and accelerated government spending.

“The economy has shown remarkable resilience this year. Our [gross domestic product] growth averaged 5.8 percent for the first three quarters of 2024. We experienced significant weather-related disturbances or disruptions throughout the year: a prolonged dry season due to El Niño and the consecutive strong typhoons amid La Niña,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

“Notwithstanding these disruptions, our growth rate still positions us as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. It is a testament to our people’s hard work and dedication and the sound policies implemented by our government despite such challenging conditions,” Balisacan said.

Easing inflation

The Department of Finance (DoF) said the Marcos administration worked double time to protect the purchasing power of the Filipino people from high food prices, keeping inflation firmly within the government’s target range in 2024.

Inflation, which averaged 6.0 percent last year, has so far decelerated to 3.2 percent as of end-November this year.

In particular, rice inflation has continued its downtrend from 22.5 percent in June 2024 to 5.1 percent in November this year as a result of the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 62 in July 2024, which lowered import tariffs on rice.

The DoF said the average retail price of imported rice in the National Capital Region (NCR) declined by P3.66 per kilogram in the second half of November compared to the second half of June 2024, before EO 62 was implemented.

“This price decrease helped offset the impact of food price hikes caused by successive typhoons Nika, Ofel, and Pepito, and the lingering effects of earlier storms in October and the El Niño in the first half of the year,” DoF said.

It added that the continued drop in rice prices, including the setup of more Kadiwa stores nationwide, has benefited the bottom 30 percent of households as headline inflation for the said group declined to 2.9 percent in November 2024 from 5.8 percent in July.

For this year, the overall inflation rate is expected to average from 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent this year.

With inflation settling comfortably within the government’s 2 to 4 percent target, economic managers are optimistic that the lower end of the 6 to 6.5 percent economic growth target for this year will be attained.

“The economy needs to grow by at least 6.5 percent to meet the government’s target for the last quarter 2024. We remain optimistic that this growth target is attainable,” he said.

“We remain optimistic about the fourth-quarter economic performance. Holiday spending, more stable commodity prices, and a robust remittance inflow and labor market give us confidence that our 6.0 to 7.0 percent growth target is still achievable,” he added.