MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine economy grew at an annual rate of 7.2% in the fourth quarter, the statistics agency said on Thursday, beating expectations.
Economists in a Reuters poll had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to rise 6.5% in the last three months of 2022 from a year earlier. Third quarter growth was 7.6%.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP came in at 2.4% in October-December, compared with expectations for a 1.5% rise and the previous quarter’s 2.9% growth.
For the full-year of 2022, growth was 7.6%, above the government’s target of 6.5 to 7.5%, and stronger than the previous year’s 5.7% expansion.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Enrico dela Cruz; Writing by Karen Lema; Editing by Martin Petty)
