PH factory growth hit 10-month high in Jan

The Philippines opened 2023 with a rebound in factory production after growth hit a three-month low recorded last December, government data released on Thursday showed.

Preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the volume of production index (VoPI) expanded by 10.6% year-on-year in January.

The latest expansion compares with the 4.2% in December and 10.9% in the previous year. It is the fastest expansion in 10 months since March 2022’s 346.1%.

Higher annual growth rates were recorded in the manufacture of food products (17.3%), bever-