The Philippine economy continues to demonstrate resilience, even though it fell short of its 2024 growth targets, according to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
The country’s chief socio-economic planner said Friday, Jan. 24, that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.8 percent during the first three quarters of 2024, which is below the target range of 6.5 percent to 8.0 percent.
In a press conference, Balisacan explained that the factors affecting the country’s economic performance were beyond the government’s control. “We fell short of the target, but that’s understandable due to external and domestic factors that are outside of our control,” Balisacan said.
Nonetheless, he said, “the performance of the economy was still quite impressive compared to our neighbors in the entire Asia.”
Balisacan highlighted that the Philippines remains one of the top performers among emerging economies in Asia. He pointed out that agriculture was one of the sectors that suffered the most significant losses in the second half of last year due to an unprecedented number of typhoons that hit the country.
