Stimulate Growth

Sunday, September 25, 2011

THE Philippines economy reportedly grew at a slower-than-expected pace of 4% in the first half of 2011 with Filipino investors infusing some 1.96 trillion in investments since 10 years ago due to growing confidence in the economy.

The Filipino investors' growing confidence in the Philippine economy is a piece of good news because it also sends a positive signal to foreign investors that all is well and it is safe to invest in the Philippines despite some events that put us in the international spotlight.

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One of these forgettable events was the slaying of Chinese tourists from Hong Kong by a disgruntled former policeman. If we have to have a bullish economy and tourism, the Philippines have to improve the security of tourists and establish peace and order all over the country. It should also do away with bureaucratic red tape and provide a seamless and business-friendly environment.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, Filipino investors dominated investments since the start of economic liberalization. These investments are predominantly listed in the Board of Investments, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Clark Development Corporation. Of the P3.39 trillion total investments for the last 10 years since the start of financial reforms and liberalization, some P1.96-trillion can be traced from Filipino investors. The Filipino investors are not going elsewhere, they are investing heavily in the Philippines.

It’s a good thing that Clark Development Corporation is now playing an important integral part in the development of the Philippine economy.

Back in 1995 when I’m still working as resident writer of CDC under former CDC Public Affairs Manager Lycette Ramos, we only had few investors but CDC has signed MOAs with new investors almost every week.

Amid secondary ash falls that continued to rain on us every now and then, we persevered to promote the state-run CDC. We were a small group back then but now CDC workers tripled in size and CFZ is running out of commercial spaces to rent out. What happened to the hackneyed “New Frontier” of CDC? Was it lost in an unknown frontier?

Among the big investors in the Clark Freeport Zone include the $1-billion Texas Instruments and car manufacturer Foton, which is reportedly locating soon.

The DTI has it that as of the first half of 2011, the Filipino investors cornered P257 billion out of the P319.88 billion investments. The sluggish performance of the US economy still in downward spiral had apparently affecting economic prospects of Asean countries prompting emerging economies to review economic strategies.

The US government had been battling two fronts in its bid for survival – international terrorism and sluggish economy. As of now, US officials had been wracking their brains on how to solve debts amounting to trillions of dollars, slow growth, high unemployment, slump in housing market and so on. Is America – land of the free slipping to economic depression of the 30s?

There were reports that the US government was thinking of stopping its “food stamps” program for the homeless and unemployed. If that happens, millions of Americans will not eat and this will create chaos.

Back in the home front, the poor Filipinos can still eat “tuyo” and we have no problem with that as long as all of us Filipinos still eat three times a day. There are no food stamps here; only wily politicians who will take advantage of the situation. Let’s call that “Will vote for food” err “Will work for food.”