Economy to rebound soon

NEDA expects more investors coming in

The government sees slow but sure rebound of the economy late this year despite dire prediction that the country would experience recession before 2009 ends. “Well, moving upward is the direction. And the current target of 0.8 percent to 1.8 percent [growth in the gross domestic product for 2009] means that from the 0.4-percent [growth in the] GDP in the first quarter, we expect the economy to be moving upward when the economy also rebounds,” Romeo Tungpalan, the deputy director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, told a press conference on Friday. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year.

When asked if the country’s economic managers also see the US economy slowly recovering, Tungpalan said there are indications that it is recording some gains. But, he added, the Philippines does not want to rely on those indications.

“We are really looking at other markets such as China. It has its own success story and the fiscal stimulus of China has resulted in very impressive [GDP] growth of 6.1 percent in the first quarter,” Tungpalan said.

“And, in fact, Asia itself is a very strong market now for the Philippines and [President Gloria Arroyo] has instructed her economic managers as well as [concerned] departments to seize the opportunity by relating more with China rather than with our usual [yardsticks],” he added.

Tungpalan, also the deputy presidential spokesman for economic affairs, said that they expect more investments to come in as the country starts to recover.

In Asia, he added, the Philippines is also looking up to Japan and South Korea where the expansion of the country’s economy is concerned.

Tungpalan, though, warned against limiting the country’s growth drivers to a few international markets.

According to him, a strong domestic economy makes for a “lasting and sustainable long-term growth.”

Earlier, Tungpalan assured that the country achieving the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, would not be set aside despite the global crisis.

“The Philippine government’s resolve to achieve the MDGs would not be sidetracked,” he said during the launch of the MDG-Fund Joint Program on Youth, Employment and Migration “Alternatives to Migration: Decent Jobs for Filipino Youth.”

Tungpalan cited the government’s Economic Resiliency Plan as the strategic tool in addressing the crisis because the plan focuses on saving and creating jobs and protecting vulnerable sectors.

“The challenge posed is on how the international development community can help developing countries like the Philippines cushion the impact of the crisis on the lives of people and respond to the threats to achieve the MDGs by 2015,” he said.

The joint program is a three-year, $6-million initiative funded by Spain that aims to improve access to decent work for poor young men and women.

The program will also provide direct services to the poorest areas, zeroing in on four provinces with high incidences of out-of-school and poor youth, low enrolment rates and where the Millennium Development Goals are least likely to be achieved. These provinces are Agusan del Sur, Antique, Maguin­danao and Masbate.

The Millennium Development Goal-Fund is a global $700-million funding facility contributed by the Spanish government to the United Nations in December 2006.

It aims to accelerate progress toward attainment of the MDGs in select countries by supporting programs in areas acknowledged as central to the achievement of the development goals and other internationally agreed ones—environment and climate change, gender, cultural diversity, democratic economic governance, private-sector development, conflict prevention, food security and employment and migration. –Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter, Manila Times