A lot has been said about the growth of the Philippine economy. What is most inspiring is that the World Bank itself sees that the growth momentum will be sustained. this, according to them, may happen throughout the remaining years of the Duterte presidency, all despite external headwinds such as the US-China “trade war”.
In a statement, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the World Bank’s projections are anchored on the Philippines’ solid external stance and “highly domestically driven” economy, which provides it “ample cushion” against external headwinds that are generally foreseen to slow down global growth this year.
Beltran said World Bank forecasts show that the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 6.4 percent this year, second only to Vietnam’s 6.6 percent, and higher than China’s 6.2 percent, Indonesia’s 5.2 percent and Malaysia’s 4.6 percent.
In 2020 and 2021, the Philippines’ GDP growth of 6.5 percent for both these periods will equal Vietnam’s 6.5 percent, also for both periods, and surpassChina’s 6.1 and 6.0 percent, respectively. The Indonesian economy is projected to expand 5.3 percent for 2020 and 2021, while Malaysia will maintain its growth at 4.6 percent in both these years.
What remains a stumbling block that has allowed our neghbors to keep pace with us is the more liberal company ownership rules that may need to change to allow more foreign equity, which the department of finance is pushing for.
For us in Davao, it means that we should be ready for an influx of more investment. We need to improve our airport facilities to cater to the growing number of international flights and the higher number of tourist arrivals we are expecting.
We also hope that the upgrade of the Sasa port will start soon to allow the large gantry cranes to load and unload containerized cargo. this lowers shipping costs for traders and makes discharge move faster, reducing the possibility of port congestion.
We also need to prepare ourselves for the possibility of partnerships with foreign companies such as what we are seeing in the new hotels coming up. We are still 2,000 rooms shy of the 12,000 hotel rooms we need to take in the influx. We hope that a long mothballed hotel in Bajada will start renovations to allow itself to be used as a hotel once more.
With the recent Davao Investment Conference, attention on Davao as an investment destination has increased. these investors affirm the World banks observations about the country being a huge market for their own products, and possibly therefore, a strong location for their investments to cater to the growing population that is increasingly becoming affluent when you consider the record lower self rated poverty numbers in the SWS (38%), the lower poverty statistics in 2018 (21%), and the lower unemployment rate at 5.1%.
Moreover, with positive developments such as the BBB+ rating of Standard and Poor’s and the Balance of Payments Surplus and the continued lowering of our debt to GDP ratio, we are confident that investor interest will be sustained since these financial developments have placed the country on the map of the finance community as a viable destination for investments that can give good and sustained returns.
These, among others are what we need to sustain our growth.
These have developed despite the political noise being made by some quarters in Manila.
