ation and interest rate increases last year by posting the fastest economic growth since 1976 — one of the strongest in Asia amid a dreary global outlook.
Among Asian countries that released fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth, the Philippines grew the fastest, followed by Vietnam at 5.9% and China at 2.9%, Mr. Balisacan said.Inflation was one of the major challenges the economy faced last year, Mr. Balisacan said. “If not for the relatively high inflation and high prices, growth could have been higher by another one to two percentage points.
Restaurant and hotel spending contributed the most to household expenditures, having gone up by 24.7% last quarter, National Statistician Dennis S. Mapa told the same briefing. “We saw in the fourth quarter a lot of Filipinos traveling, so more food was consumed outside the household.” Gross capital formation, the investment component of the economy, grew by 5.9% last quarter, though slower than 21.8% in the third quarter and 14.2% a year ago. Full-year growth was 16.8%, slower than 20.3% in 2021.
All sectors grew year on year. Services jumped by 9.2%, industry expanded by 6.7% and agriculture grew by 0.5%.Makoto Tsuchiya, an assistant economist at Oxford Economics, said in an e-mailed note fourth-quarter growth was more resilient than expected after household consumption and exports did better.