Factory output in the Philippines showed a sustained improvement in May amid the decelerating inflation rate, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed Friday.
The PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries indicated that the volume of production index registered a year-on-year increase of 8.1 percent in May 2023, faster than 7.7 percent in April. In May 2022, VoPI recorded an annual drop of -0.6 percent.
“The expansion in the annual growth of VoPI in May 2023 was mainly contributed by the annual upturn in manufacture of electrical equipment with 53.7 percent during the period from 19.2 percent in April 2023. The manufacture of electrical equipment shared 27.3 percent to the annual acceleration of VoPI of the manufacturing sector in May 2023,” the PSA said.
It said other primary contributors to the year-on-year uptrend of VoPI were the slower annual decline noted in manufacture of chemical and chemical products at -21.2 percent during the period from -32.2 percent in the previous month, and the annual increase in manufacture of beverages at 3.9 percent in May 2023 from -0.5 percent annual decrease in April 2023.
The PSA said of the remaining 19 industry divisions, nine exhibited annual increases during the period and 10 industry divisions recorded annual decrements. The highest annual decline was noted in the manufacture of furniture at -31.3 percent.
The value of production index for manufacturing also posted an annual increase of 10.3 percent in May, faster than 10.1 percent in April and 6.6 percent a year ago.