Aquino Fact Checks

FALSE: Philippines’ 2010-2016 economic growth rates were 3.7%, 3.2%, 4.2%

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

FALSE: Philippines’ 2010-2016 economic growth rates were 3.7%, 3.2%, 4.2%
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority do not support those figures for economic growth rates from 2010 to 2016
At a glance
  • Claim: The Philippines’ economic growth rates were 3.7%, 3.2%, and 4.2% from 2010 to 2016.
  • Rating: FALSE
  • The facts: Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) do not support those three figures for Philippine economic growth rates from 2010 to 2016.
  • Why we fact-checked this: The claim was found in a post on June 26, 2021, on the Facebook account of former broadcaster Jay Sonza. As of writing, the post has about 8,300 reactions, 784 comments, and 1,300 shares.
Complete details

A post on June 26, 2021, on the Facebook account of Jay Sonza, a former broadcaster, stated the following regarding the economic growth rates of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016, the years Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was president.

The post said: “Sa record kasi ng PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority] ay 3.7%, 3.2%, at 4.2% and [sic] economic growth ng bansa noong 2010-2016.  Malayong-malayo ito sa ideal economic growth na 6.5% to 7.5% during those period.” 

(According to the PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority] records, the economic growth of the Philippines from 2010-2016 were 3.7%, 3.2%, and 4.2%. These are far from the ideal economic growth of 6.5% to 7.5% during that period.)

As of writing, the post has about 8,300 reactions, 784 comments, and 1,300 shares. 

This claim is false.

The supposed Philippine economic growth rates in Sonza’s post are unsupported by data from the PSA. 

The most commonly used economic growth measure is the Gross Domestic Product growth rate, which shows the percentage change in GDP for a given time period, usually in a year. Here, the GDP used is real GDP, or GDP adjusted for constant prices at a given period, in contrast with nominal GDP, which does not adjust for inflation.

Data about the Philippine economy at the national level can be found on the PSA’s website. The GDP growth rates in the chart below is from the PSA file Annual Gross Domestic Product Series (1946 to 2020) and the years mentioned in Sonza’s post, 2010 to 2016, are highlighted. The three percentages he mentioned can’t be found there.

Also, it is expected that for 2010 to 2016, there would be six annual GDP growth rates given, like in the highlighted data above. Sonza showed only three values.

Sonza’s three percentages also can’t be found on the PSA’s Quarterly Gross Domestic Product Series (Q1 1981 to Q1 2021), which is shown in the second slide in the chart above. This data shows year-on-year rates; for instance, the growth rate for 2010-2011 Q1 of 4.8% means the growth rate from first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011.

The Philippines’ GDP grew an average of 6.2% during Aquino’s term. (READ: IN CHARTS: How the stock market, economy grew under Noynoy Aquino)

Rappler has fact-checked several posts by Sonza, as shown in the following articles:

– Percival Bueser/Rappler.com

Percival Bueser is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!