President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s economic strategy is paying off. Signs of improvements can be seen in the gross domestic products (GDP), trade exports, foreign investments, and job generation.
Looking at the Administration’s economic performance by the numbers, the GDP— the economy’s total output of goods and services—grew by 6.5 percent in the second quarter and 6.4 percent in the first half of the year. Manufacturing, trade, and real estate renting and business activities were among the main drivers of growth for the period.
The Philippine economy is currently ranked as the world’s 10th fastest growing economy in the world by the World Bank’s 2017 Global Economic Prospects.
With the stock market following the economy, the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) has been rallying in recently, breaking all-time highs almost every day reaching a new peak at 8,400-point level last October 12.
Buoyed up by the strong GDP performance in the first half of 2017, Philippine investments prospects, as a result, remain bright as projects registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) reached 268 with a total value of P294.8-billion from January to July this year, up by 40 percent from the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the revival of the Asia-Pacific region has boosted the country’s exports, which account for nearly a third of GDP. Total exports rose by 9.3 percent to US$5.5-billion in August 2017 as compared to the same month of previous year. Electronic products continued to be the Philippines’ top export, followed by other manufactured goods, such as agro-based, mineral, forest, and petroleum products.
As for the employment growth, the Philippines’ outstanding macroeconomic fundamentals, coupled with the administration’s ongoing massive infrastructure spending through the Build-Build-Build Infrastructure Program, are seen to increase economic activities and generate more jobs.
From January to July 2017, the country has attained a 57-percent employment gain, with 58,758 estimated new jobs compared to the same period in 2016. The employment rate in July 2017 was estimated at 94.4 percent, with workers in the services sector accounted for 55.6 percent of the total employed, followed by the agriculture sector with 25.2 percent, and the industry sector with 19.2 percent.
The improving economy is surely one factor in the President’s approval rating. Propped up by sustained domestic demand driven by high consumer and business confidence, the Philippine economy, under the stewardship of President Duterte, can maintain its outstanding grade in 2017 and beyond. ### PCO-Content
