Earth News from TerraDaily.com
Typhoons, drought wreck Philippine economic growth target
Manila, Jan 30 (AFP) Jan 30, 2025
The Philippine economy fell well short of its 2024 growth target, officials said Thursday, as deadly typhoons and drought dampened economic activity.

Gross domestic product ticked up slightly to 5.6 percent compared with 5.5 percent in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

But that failed to approach the government's target of 6 to 6.5 percent, Economic Planning Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon told a news conference, blaming a dry spell in the early part of the year and six consecutive typhoons that pummelled the country in October and November.

"These extreme weather conditions led to a 1.8 percent year-on-year contraction in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector," Edillon said.

The succession of typhoons also dampened tourism, the government agency said, even as industry and the services sector remained key growth drivers.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution network concluded in a report last month that human-induced climate change had fuelled the rare string of typhoons that struck the Philippines, killing more than 170 people and causing hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of damage.

The Philippines also topped the World Risk Report last year of countries threatened by "extreme weather events".

"It is clear then that the key to economic growth in the new normal is to build resilience and ensure adaptability to changing preferences," Edillon said.





Space News from SpaceDaily.com
SpaceX mega-rocket Starship 9 cleared for launch following earlier mission failures
Rocky road geology reveals billion year story inside Martian crater
Microsoft AI weather forecast faster, cheaper, truer: study

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Accelerating Mathematical Discovery with AI for Tomorrow's Breakthroughs
Only a Tiny Fraction of Deep Seafloor Mapped Over Seven Decades
France's TotalEnergies to face court in June in 'greenwashing' case

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Top U.S. defense contractor L3 Tech to pay $62M to settle claims of deceptive practices
North Korean warship has 'serious accident' at launch
Foreign delegation comes under Israeli fire in occupied West Bank

24/7 News Coverage
Abrupt Soil Moisture Loss Drives Global Water Flow into Oceans, Raising Sea Levels
Ancient Climate Shifts and Their Impact on North American Landscapes
Ancient Fossil Tracks Push Back Reptile Evolution by 40 Million Years


ADVERTISEMENT



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.