Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Thursday expressed optimism that the Marcos administration could sustain the country’s economic momentum.

This after National Statistician Dennis Mapa reported Thursday that the Philippine economy grew by 5.9 percent in the third quarter of 2023, a marked improvement from the 4.3-percent growth posted in the second quarter of the same year.

“The economic team is pleased with this quarter’s 5.9-percent GDP (gross domestic product) growth, a significant improvement from last quarter’s 4.3 percent. This proves that with effective budget utilization, we can meet our economic targets,” Pangandaman said in a statement.

“We hope that we can sustain this momentum to stay on track with our Medium-Term Fiscal Framework. I am confident that as we work together in unity and with our whole-of-government approach, we will remain on track with our Agenda for Prosperity,” she added.

The 5.9-percent economic growth in the third quarter of this year makes the Philippine economy the fastest among the major emerging economies in Asia that have released their GDP growth in the same period.

Some of the Asian countries that have already released their GDP growth include Vietnam (5.3 percent); Indonesia and China (both at 4.9 percent); and Malaysia (3.3 percent).

Pangandaman attributed the country’s economic growth to the effects of improved budget utilization of government agencies.

“We would like to thank President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. who has been on top of the catch-up plans and personally called for a Cabinet meeting to ensure that we improve our economic performance. We would also like to thank and congratulate our national government agencies as we can see from this that the catch-up plans have already contributed to the improvement in GDP,” she said.

Citing the latest report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Pangandaman said government final consumption expenditure (GFCE) grew at 6.7 percent, while gross value added in human health and social work activities, in which the public sector plays a major role, registered a 7.1 year-on-year increase.

Pangandaman said public infrastructure spending also made significant contributions to the double-digit growth in overall construction of 12.4 percent, adding that public construction grew by an impressive 26.9 percent year-on-year, as the Build Better More program accelerated its performance in the third quarter.

In a separate statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the Marcos administration would continue to work to attain the country’s economic and social transformation targets.

Balisacan said the Philippine economy would need to grow by 7.2 percent year-on-year for the fourth quarter of 2023 to attain at least the low-end of the government’s target of 6 percent to 7 percent for the entire year. (PNA)