Philippines economy shrinks 4.2% in Q1, longest recession since Marcos era

The Philippine economy contracted by 4.2% year-on-year in Q1 2021, marking five consecutive quarters of GDP decline.

This is the longest recession since the Marcos era when economic output shrank for nine straight quarters from late 1983 to late 1985.

Despite the contraction, there were signs of a slow recovery with quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.3% in Q1 compared to Q4 2020.

Government spending grew by 16.1%, the fastest since Q2 2020, while agriculture declined by 1.2%, and services and industry contracted by 4.4% and 4.7% respectively.

The main contributors to the GDP decline were construction (-24.2%), other services like entertainment and recreation (-38%), and real estate (-13.2%).