00:00The recent economic slowdown has raised concerns, but officials remain hopeful that strategic reforms will help steer the country back on track.
00:08With efforts to boost transparency and improve the quality of public spending, the government is determined to turn the tide and revive momentum before year-end.
00:18Denise Osorio has more.
00:19The country's economic growth has slowed to 4% in the third quarter of 2025, well below the 5.2% recorded in the same period last year, and short of the government's target range of 5.5 to 6%.
00:34According to the Department of Economic Planning and Development, or DEPDEV, the slowdown was largely driven by a contraction in public construction due to tighter verification and validation processes for government projects, including the Department of Public Works and Highways flood control programs, which were affected by irregularity issues.
00:51There are two things, no? One is the increasing government spending. The other thing is improving the quality of that spending. Both are important, and especially in the aftermath of these scandals, we see that there's so much space for improving the quality of spending.
01:19Secretary Balisaka noted how flood control projects weren't the only ones disrupted, but other public infrastructure as well.
01:27In response, the government is reinforcing reforms in public expenditure and upgrading digital monitoring systems, such as the DIME project and the Philippine Open Data Portal, aimed at ensuring transparency and the proper use of public funds.
01:40The performance of the agencies in the third quarter was affected not only in the public flood control projects, not only for the flood control projects, but also other projects that are particularly infrastructure.
01:59So we are looking at that wider space to ensure that we are spending those resources as they are intended to, provided that they meet those requirements that they are not wasteful spending.
02:20Balisakan added that the swift rehabilitation of bridges, roads, and dikes is now a top priority, together with the faster release of aid and funding to communities struck by recent calamities, all to help revive local economies before the end of the year.
02:35Meanwhile, national statistician Claire Dennis Mapa reported that public construction recorded its sharpest decline in more than a decade, dropping by 26.2% this quarter.
02:45Okay, for the data, the construction, the Q3 2025 growth there is, as you mentioned, negative 26.2.
02:56It's lowest since third quarter of 2011, where the growth rate during the time was recorded at negative 28.6%.
03:04Mapa added that, excluding the pandemic years, this marks the slowest overall GDP growth since the third quarter of 2011, when the economy grew by only 3%.
03:14Yung ating GDP nitong third quarter, 4.0%, of course, noong COVID pandemic, mayroon tayong Q1 2021 minus 3.8%, excluding that, that particular period, it would be like lowest since Q3 2011, kung saan nagkaroon tayo ng growth rate na 3.0 sa GDP.
03:40Despite the latest figures, Deptev remains optimistic that with accelerated public spending, stronger coordination across agencies, and enhanced transparency measures, the economy will regain momentum in the final quarter of the year.
03:53Denise Osorio for the National Television Network for a new and better Philippines.
