|
Friday, October 10, 2003
Bright spots for economy
By Cherry T. Lim
AMID the challenges posed by globalization and corruption, an economist and a Cabinet official have said there were bright spots in the Philippine economy even as they blamed the public for the ills of society.
University of the Philippines professor Solita Monsod said despite the huge budget deficit of government, the country is actually “growing according to plan, according to target.”
During the 40th Annual Conference of the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, which drew 1,000 delegates, she said it was the lack of revenues that was causing the deficit rather than increasing expenditures.
A former director of the National Economic and Development Authority, Monsod said the economy was moving along just fine, with “food consumption up 4.9 percent and clothing up 4.6 percent in the second quarter of the year.”
Slowing
Overall, the Philippines achieved gross national product growth of 4.8 percent in the first semester of the year, the highest it has achieved since the 1997 Asian crisis, but she warned of signs economic growth was slowing.
“In 2002-2003, we grew faster than our neighbors. But now, we are only faster than Indonesia and Myanmar, I think,” she said.
A silver lining, however, was the price stability.
“Inflation has stayed steady at about three percent. Five to 10 years ago, it was double-digit rates,” she said.
She said one of the reasons for this was competition from imported goods attributed partly to globalization.
Although the unemployment rate had also grown to 12.7 percent in July 2003 from 11.2 percent in July 2002, leaving 4.4 million jobless from 3.8 million a year ago, the economist said new jobs were created in the hotel and restaurant businesses as well as in the real estate sector.
In the same conference, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. reported that the government’s efforts to support the agriculture sector, which provides livelihood to two-thirds of the population, had paid off.
The country now has 1.45 million hectares of irrigated land from just 950,000 hectares when President Arroyo first assumed office in 2001. In sugar, the country has “established export capacity,” he said.
In rice, the emphasis on hybrid rice had produced a “world record harvest for the hybrid rice variety” of 292 cavans of palay per hectare, a feat achieved by farmers in Rizal, Occidental Mindoro.
The country aims to be self-sufficient in rice by 2004. He said from 87 percent self-sufficiency in rice last year, the country was currently at 94 percent self-sufficiency.
The agriculture chief warned, however, that disunity among the people, especially among the leaders pursuing their own ambitions; terrorism by communists, Muslim separatists and “elements of the armed forces”; as well as the tendency of media to “build up intrigue instead of being a channel for public dialogue” were making it difficult for the country, already burdened by a weak global export market, to move forward.
Moral values
He called on the people to “strengthen moral values” to effect societal reform, saying the cause of the country’s problems was not the political system or the “big public debt,” but the Filipinos themselves who had done nothing, instead of becoming agents of positive change.
Monsod voiced the same sentiments, hitting corruption and the public’s participation in as well as apathy to it.
“As long as politics in the Philippines is synonymous with corruption, that is as long as this
country is not going to move in terms of efficiency and equity,” she said. “If you think governance is the fault of our leaders, think again. Who put those leaders there?”
She said the country had been buffeted by instability, with coup attempts, political mudslinging and sudden changes in rules of the game not sitting well with investors.
Clear rules
“Investors don’t like changes. Thailand is as corrupt as the Philippines, but it is better off developmentally because the rules of the corruption game (there) are very clear, and everybody follows. If you pay (a bribe), you get value for your money. But not in the Philippines,” she said.
She said the private sector should also stop criticizing government agencies for being corrupt as it takes two to tango, and there is also corruption in procurement in private corporations.
President Arroyo, who also spoke at the gathering, urged businessmen not to let “ruthless politics” distract them from investing and creating jobs.
“Politicians come and go, but challenges are here to stay,” she said.
She expressed delight that in informal talks with some conference delegates, she learned that “many of you are hiring, especially the small and medium enterprises.”
(October 10, 2003 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
