The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 7.7% in the fourth quarter of 2021 from a contraction of 8.3% in the same period of 2020, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Meanwhile, the whole year of 2021 posted 5.6% GDP growth (Figure 1), recovering from the record-breaking 9.6% contraction in 2020. This exceeded the government’s annual growth target of 5.5%, as revised in December 2021. While GDP for year 2021 valued at P18.51 trillion (at constant 2018 prices) is P981.2 billion higher than the 2020 GDP, it is still 4.5% lower compared with its 2019 pre-pandemic level of P19.38 trillion.
