Malacañang on Monday welcomed a recent study saying the Philippines is expected to become one of Asia’s trillion-dollar economies in the next decade.
According to the IHS Markit report released last month, the Philippines is seen to enjoy “rapid growth in 2022” thanks to private consumption and government infrastructure investments.
“This is certainly a very welcome news,” said acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles.
“If you would recall our economic team remains optimistic that our COVID-19 pandemic team will not derail the Philippine vision to eliminate poverty by 2040,” he said in a televised press briefing.
The Philippine economy posted a faster-than-expected 5.6 percent growth rate in 2021 as looser COVID-19 restrictions propelled recovery, with GDP growing 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority said in January 2022.
The 2021 GDP growth is also above the 5 to 5.5 percent target set by the Development and Budget Coordination Committee in December.
Economic managers are expecting growth of between 7 to 9 percent this year.
The recovery follows the country’s worst post-War economic contraction in 2020, which was also the worst contraction for a major ASEAN economy that year. Economists blamed the 2020 contraction on what has been described as the strictest and longest COVID-19 lockdown in the world, which shuttered businesses and severely limited mobility.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) has urged the national government to further ease health restrictions to allow businesses to cater to more customers and hire more workers as the country pushes to strengthen its economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Kami medyo sumasama ang loob namin kapag sinasabi na hindi pa handa,” ECOP President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. told PTV.
(We are a bit sad when the government says that we are not yet ready to ease restrictions.)
“Hindi namin alam ano pa ang pinaghahandaan. Madali sabihin yun nung mga hindi nawalan ng trabaho, hindi nawawalan ng pera,” he said.
(We don’t know what else they are preparing for. It’s easy to say that only if you haven’t lost your job and you did not lose funds.)
The ECOP chief underscored that the employers are also hoping for the tourism industry to further reopen as this is among the primary job generators in the country.
“Medyo huling huli na tayo sa ating mga kapitbahay,” he said.
(We’re lagging behind our regional peers.)
Last month, a preliminary study from the Asian Development Bank said the Philippines was lagging behind its peers in terms of returning to pre-pandemic economic growth rates.
