Initial Q2 GDP estimate left unrevised at 4.3%

THE initial second quarter economic growth estimate of 4.3% has been left unrevised, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, the day before it was due to announce preliminary third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data.

A BusinessWorld poll of 18 economists conducted last week yielded a median estimate of 4.9% GDP growth for the third quarter. The median estimate would remain much weaker than the third-quarter 2022 reading of 7.7%.

Elsewhere in the second-quarter data, net primary income (NPI) from the rest of the world was revised upward to 90.7% from 90.6%.

Gross national income (GNI) — the sum of GDP and net primary income from the rest of the world — for the second quarter remained at 8.6%.

The PSA also kept the growth of industry sector unrevised at 2.1%, but altered its growth estimates for the following industry subsectors: mining and quarrying (-2.9% from -3.5%), manufacturing (1.1% from 1.2%), electricity, steam, water and waste (4.7% from 4.8%), and construction (3.6% from 3.5%).

Growth rates that were upwardly revised included that of the services sector (6.1% from 6%), transportation and storage (17.5% from 17.3%), financial and insurance activities (5.3% from 5%), real estate and ownership of dwellings (2.9% from 2.8%), education (6.9% from 6.4%), and human health and social work activities (8.3% from 8.2%).

The growth rate for agriculture, forestry, and fishing was unrevised at 0.2%.

On the expenditure side, household and government spending were left unrevised at 5.5% and -7.1%, respectively.

The growth of exports and goods and services was upgraded to 4.4% from 4.1%, while the import growth estimate was lowered to 0.2% from 0.4% previously.

Gross capital formation, the investment component of the economy, was upgraded to 0.3% from the -0.04% preliminary estimate.

National account revisions are based on procedures conforming to international standard practices, the PSA said. — Mariedel Irish U. Catilogo