The National Statistical Coordination Board of the Philippine Government announced today that the Philippine economy grew 5.9 percent in the three months to the end of June 2012 over the same period in the previous year. Several news reports credited increased spending by the government and favourable perception created by the “anti-corruption” drive of Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III.
The Pakistani Business Recorder reported…
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Socio-economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan credited President Benigno Aquino’s anti-corruption reforms for part of the growth, saying they had boosted the confidence of local and foreign investors.
“We obviously would not have achieved (this growth) without the substantial improvement in the way people perceive the government… and the way we do business,” Balisacan told reporters.
…while BusinessWeek credited “higher public spending and consumption” as the main drivers of this growth. BusinessWeek also cites some expert opinion on the matter…
“The potential for an economic transformation in the Philippines is clearly visible,†Aninda Mitra, a Singapore- based economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said before the report. “Domestic demand is holding up well, and it demonstrates that the economy is now less sensitive to global developments.â€
…while clearly implying something in this rather out-of-place snippet:
Aquino, who has pledged to rid the nation of corruption to boost investor confidence, appointed Maria Lourdes Sereno last week as the nation’s first female chief justice after Renato Corona, the former top judge, was removed from office for concealing his wealth.
This latest BusinessWeek report notably includes the following disclaimer:
To contact the reporters on this story: Karl Lester M. Yap in Manila at kyap5@bloomberg.net; Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net
The last report of BusinessWeek on the Philippines highlighted as main contributors to its positive economic outlook (1) the remittances of the Philippines’ overseas foreign workers (OFWs) which accounts for more than 10% of the country’s GDP and (2) the fact that Manila “sports the third largest mall on the planet: SM City North EDSA, with 1,100 shops, 400 of which include places to eatâ€.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Those supposedly “optimistic” reports don’t really mean anything if they only serve the smaller privileged segment of society, much like saying that a person appears to have grown taller simply because the neck has disproportionately elongated, while the rest of the body continues to stagnate. Until growth can be felt by the rest of society independent of those media reports, then they’re nothing but spins. An economy disproportionately driven or defined by a small percentage or segment of society is not something to brag about.
So, the Pakistani outlet simply quoted an Administration apparatchik, while BusinessWeek more or less reprinted a press release. Looks like I should sharpen a couple pencils and straighten this out.
I was hoping this little article would light up your annoyance mojos… 😉
Like so many fine words that states that our nation is “improving” it’s the visual and solid results that talks true.