THE country’s economy has improved in the first quarter of 2021 with a slower contraction of 4.2 percent from an 8.3 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2020.

On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew by 0.3 percent.

On the production side, both industry and services showed smaller contractions, reflecting the recovery, while the decline in agriculture reflects the ongoing crisis in the hog industry.

Industry and services continued their gradual recovery, improving from -10.6 percent to -4.7 percent and from -8.0 percent to -4.4 percent, respectively.

Strong crop production, in particular rice, helped to improve agriculture performance from -2.5 percent in fourth quarter 2020 to -1.2 percent in first quarter 2021. However, the livestock industry saw a 23.2 percent drop as the African swine fever continues to hit the hog industry hard.

To address this, the government has been decisive in lowering the tariff rates and increasing the minimum access volume for pork as a temporary measure to address the supply deficit and bring down the soaring prices of pork, President Duterte’s economic managers said in a joint statement released Tuesday, May 11, 2021.

Expenditure