Philippine GDP grows 2.1% in Q3, weakest since pandemic
EM - News Moderator 
The Philippine economy expanded by 2.1% year on year in the third quarter, unexpectedly slowing from a year ago as agricultural output declined amid El Niño, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth sharply slowed from the 4% expansion in the same period last year and the revised 2.4% recorded in the second quarter.
The third-quarter growth was well-below the 2.7% median forecast in a BusinessWorld poll last week.
This also marked the economy’s weakest performance since the 3.8% contraction in the first quarter of 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic. Excluding the pandemic years, this was the slowest growth in over 16 years, or since the 1.8% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Agricultural production contracted by 4.8% in the third quarter, from 2.9% growth a year ago, amid bad weather. Industry slipped by 0.003% (from 0.7%), while services growth slowed to 3.7% (from 5.5%).
In the first nine months, the economy expanded by 2.5%, slower than the 4.9% growth recorded in the same period last year.
The slowdown makes it more challenging for the Philippines to meet the government’s 3.5%-4.5% GDP growth target for 2026. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
