Health worker administrates COVID-19 vaccine in Manila, Philippines (Photo: AFP/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The Philippine economy grew 11.8 percent year-on-year in the second quarter this year, ending five straight quarters of decline in gross domestic product (GDP).
The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte attributed the growth, the strongest since the fourth quarter of 1988, to its balanced efforts in tackling COVID-19 and boosting jobs and incomes.
The Philippine government in April revamped the "enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)" imposed last year in the metro Manila area and other parts of the country, allowing the regions, which account for 75 percent of the economy, to return to normal.
The Philippine economy had witnessed its longest decline since the second quarter of 2020 at a low of minus 17 percent, to minus 11.6 percent in the third quarter, minus 8.3 percent in the fourth quarter, and minus 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021.
The country's unemployment rate in June was down to 7.7 percent, compared with a 17-percent jobless rate in April 2020, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
A sharp increase in investments gives another clear indicator of recovery, given a 75.5-percent total investment growth and 94.9-percent surge in private investment, showed data from the country's central bank.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows into the Philippines jumped 37.8 percent to 3.48 billion U.S. dollars for the first five months of 2021, compared with the same period last year./.
VNA
