THE administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is managing the economy well as shown by the higher-than-expected growth in the first quarter of 2023, Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said Friday.

He made the statement in reaction to the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that the economy grew by 6.4 percent in the first three months of this year.

The House leader assured the people that the economy remains on the high-growth path.

To put context to the 6.4-percent growth in the first quarter and citing PSA data, Speaker Romualdez said the economy expanded by 7.6 percent in the third quarter and 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, when the economy start to reopen and recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He pointed out that the high growth quarters of 2022 and the first quarter of this year are the first nine months of the Marcos administration.

“The average economic expansion during that period is 7.07 percent, which is a respectable growth rate that is slightly higher than the median of last year’s growth target of 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent. So the economy is in good hands,” he stressed.

The Speaker noted that the 6.4-percent growth in the first quarter is almost in the middle of this year’s expansion goal of 6 percent to 7 percent.

“So our first quarter growth rate is within target,” he said.

The House leader said the Philippines “was the star economic performer in the first quarter among ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members, plus China and India.”

According to National Economic and Development Authority Director General Arsenio Balisacan, the country outperformed Indonesia (5 percent), China (4.5 percent) and Vietnam (3.3 percent).

The Philippine growth rate was also higher than first-quarter expansion forecasts for Malaysia (4.9 percent), India (4.6 percent) and Thailand (2.8 percent).

Speaker Romualdez said the national government is expected to ramp up spending, especially in infrastructure and social services.

“The government will be the lead driver of economic activities and job and income generation,” he said.