MANILA: Newly elected Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will inherit an economy that has strongly bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic when he takes office in June.

Southeast Asia's fifth-largest economy grew a better-than-expected 8.3% in the first quarter, the government said on Thursday. It was the fastest annual growth since the June quarter of 2021 when it expanded 12.1% and exceeded a 6.6% forecast in a Reuters poll.

That growth rate made the Philippines the fastest growing economy in the East Asia Region for the period, officials said. "Since we are doing relatively well on the economic opening as evidenced by the Q1 data, the immediate priority is to address inflation, especially those that affected people the most, food prices," Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua told a news conference.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) holds its next policy meeting on May 19, with some analysts seeing higher chances for an interest rate hike.