The highest growth recorded in 24 years

February 22, 2011, 10:31pm

 MANILA, Philippines – 2010 was a banner year for the Philippines as our economy, specifically our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), expanded by 7.3 percent, the highest growth recorded in 24 years. The growth was achieved on the back of a strong foreign trade performance and election spending. 

The last time the domestic economy grew at this pace was in 1986 following the restoration of democracy in the country after a bloodless People Power revolution that catapulted President Benigno S. Aquino III’s mother, Corazon C. Aquino, to power. The strong economic growth in 2010 came during a period of peaceful political transition for the Philippines after Aquino won the presidential elections on May 10, 2010.

The 2010 figure was a product of an expansion of output across all economic sectors as well as the renewed trust and confidence in the new government leadership.

The growth in 2010 also implies that the domestic economy could be on its way to a higher growth trajectory.

In the broader measure of the country’s Gross National Product (GNP), the economy also grew by 7.2 percent in 2010 on account of the 6 percent growth in income from abroad from the dollar remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Compensation income from abroad grew relatively slower as the peso strengthened in 2010. Among sectors, industrial growth was at 8.4 percent in the final quarter of 2010, up from 3.8 percent during the same period the previous year.

Better weather towards the end of the year helped the farming sector, pulling up the agriculture sector to a growth of 5.4 percent in the final three months of the year. The services sector remained strong, contributing 3.5 percentage points to GDP growth, boosted by the strong performance of trade and private services. This was complemented by flourishing domestic investment, strong growth of business process outsourcing, hotels and restaurants, wholesale and retail trade, and import and export trade.

With the growth rate expected to temper this year, with a forecast of no lower than 5 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product, the momentum for sustained growth that will break the boom and bust cycle of the economy across the last quarter of a century is evident. All sectors must now work in unison for sustained development.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer