Despite the downward adjustment of estimated growth in utilities, financial services, and information and communication technology (ICT), economic expansion in the first three months of 2025 remained unchanged at 5.4 percent.

Based on the adjustments made to the preliminary economic data for the first quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) retained the 5.4-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate reported earlier.

Expansion of certain sectors was found to be weaker than previously calculated. These include utilities (2.7 percent from 3.8 percent), financial and insurance activities (6.9 percent from 7.2 percent), while information and communication (4.7 percent from 5.6 percent).

Meanwhile, upward revisions were seen in manufacturing, which inched up to 4.3 percent from 4.1 percent; real estate and ownership of dwellings, 3.7 percent from 3.3 percent; and professional and business services, 5.2 percent from five percent.

The PSA updates GDP estimates in line with its approved revision policy, following international standards for revising national accounts.

Further, the gross national income (GNI) during the January-to-March period was revised downward from 7.5 percent to 7.2 percent. Similarly, net primary income (NPI) from abroad was revised down to 22 percent from the earlier estimate of 24.6 percent.

GNI measures the total income generated by a country’s residents, both domestically and abroad, making it a broader indicator of economic performance than GDP, which only accounts for local output.

NPI, the other component of GNI, measures the country’s net income from cross-border labor and investment flows.

To recall, the government had asserted that despite failing to meet expectations, the Philippines’ first-quarter growth still ranked among the fastest in Asia, even amid then-escalating trade uncertainties.

Growth in the first quarter was modestly faster than the previous quarter’s 5.3 percent but remained slower than the 5.7 percent recorded in the same period in 2024. It fell short of both the government’s earlier six to 6.5 percent target and the current 5.5 to six percent goal.

It can be recalled that the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) had downscaled the GDP growth goal for this year, citing the Middle East conflict and the still-persistent U.S. tariff risks.