PH economy more ‘wobbly’ than Asean neighbors – former NSCB chief

MANILA – Asean market integration by 2015 would likely be a challenge for the Philippines, as Manila appears to be more “wobbly” now than eight years ago compared with its neighbors in the region, the former secretary-general of the National Statistical Coordination Board said on Tuesday.

Romulo A. Virola said economic indicators show that there are more “bad news than good news” in the Philippines than its Asian peers.

“Eight years ago, we wrote how wobbly we were compared to our Asean neighbors. Sadly, based on the statistics the Philippines appears to be even more wobbly,” Virola said.

In terms of unemployment, the Philippines was either highest or second highest after Indonesia in the region from 2002 to 2008.

“Job creation, indeed, needs to be addressed. When we looked at the income and expenditures of LGUs, we pointed to the enormous savings of many of the cities, municipalities, and provinces. Why couldn’t we use those savings to generate employment?” Virola said.

Another bad news is that the Philippines had the second slowest annual growth rate in foreign direct investments between 2002-2004 and 2005-2010.

In terms of absolute amounts, Philippines was ahead only of Myanmar, Cambodia, LaoPDR, and Brunei Darussalam.

The Philippines was also behind Vietnam in attracting tourists.

“We used to receive about two-and-a-half times the tourists in Cambodia and three-fourths the tourists in Vietnam. Now, it is down to one-and-a-half times and two-thirds, respectively,” Virola said.

In terms of merchandise exports growth, from fourth lowest between 2002-2004, the Philippines fell to the bottom between 2005-2010.

While the Philippines in 2004 exported about one-and-a-half times that of Vietnam, Hanoi exported one-and-a-half times Manila’s exports by 2009, Virola said.

The Philippines also had the fifth highest per capita gross domestic product in current US dollar terms in 2002.

“By 2010, we had been overtaken by Indonesia, with Vietnam right behind us. However, the ratio of our per capita GDP to that of Vietnam had been eroded from 2.32 in 2002 to 1.81 in 2010. Yes, indeed, the Vietnamese are coming,” Virola said.

Despite the spate of bad news, the Philippines still has its share, with GDP and GDP per capita growth rates moving to the fifth highest in 2005-2010 from second lowest in 2002-2004.

The country’s fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP also went down from 5.2 percent in 2002 to 3.9 percent in 2009.

“We have managed to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio from 35 in 2002 to 31 in 2009 for primary education, and from 38 in 2002 to 35 in 2009 for secondary education,” Virola said, adding that the country’s adult literacy rate remains the highest in Asean.

Given these, the Philippines should not lose hope, he said.

“Yes, we can win victories and we will win victories. But only if we work hard. Together! Only if we succeed in designing strategies to convert our weaknesses into strengths,” Virola said. –Darwin G. Amojelar, InterAksyon.com