THE Philippines’s GDP last year already represents 99.4 percent of the country’s pre-pandemic figure, which explains the improvement in the country’s National Action Plan (NAP) Phase 4 Scorecard, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
In a recent presentation, Neda Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie G. Edillon said the NAP4 scorecard showed that the country’s score has further improved to 7.63 out of 9 in December 2021.
Data showed the country’s GDP reached P19.387 trillion as of December 2021. This is only P130.653 billion shy of the P19.518 trillion recorded in 2019.
“Some people will ask, ‘can you eat GDP? It’s true that it’s just a number but this GDP has many implications. This means we have produced this much level of goods and services. That means, we have generated this many jobs, and many people can derive incomes,” Edillon said, partly in Filipino.
Based on the NAP4 scorecard, the country’s infection management has improved to a score of 2.74 in December 2021 compared to the 2.53 recorded in November 2021.
In terms of vaccine rollout, the scorecard showed the country’s score also improved to 2.2 in December last year from 2.02 in November 2021.
For economic recovery, given the 7.7-percent growth in the fourth quarter, the country’s score improved to 2.69 in December 2021 from 2.44 in November 2021.
“Our recovery has truly begun. But we need to accelerate the timeline for recovery because many sectors need to recover,” she added.
The NAP4 Scorecard was created by the Recovery Cluster of the National Task Force for Covid-19, which is under the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID). This is consistent with the goals of the NAP.
Neda earlier said the NAP scorecard is a better gauge of the country’s performance as it includes factors such as infection management, vaccine rollout, and socioeconomic recovery that better tells the situation on the ground.
This is consistent with the NAP Phase IV Action Plan’s aim, which is to balance the economic and health needs of Filipinos through what it termed as a “safe reopening of the economy.”
Sustaining growth
Part of the efforts to sustain growth is to encourage competition. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said competition will not only help in the recovery efforts but also in the attainment of AmBisyon 2040.
Last year, the president also issued Administrative Order No. 44 which directs the adoption and implementation of the National Competition Policy across government agencies, supporting the Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 of 2020 issued by Neda and the PCC on July 30, 2020.
“Competition policy plays a key role as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and pursue our long-term vision of eradicating extreme poverty and providing equal opportunities for all Filipinos by 2040,” Chua said.
“By fostering a business-friendly environment and a level playing field that welcomes all players, we can promote more innovation, create more and better jobs, and accelerate our growth,” he added.
AO 44 allows the government to maintain market efficiency and protect consumer welfare through the creation of an enabling environment to support the most vulnerable sectors like Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
The order also strengthens the enforcement of the Philippine Competition Act, which helps protect the public against cartels and anti-competitive agreements.
The policy also incentivizes government institutions to comply with the National Competition Policy as they will be assessed and rewarded for how their respective policies and regulations affect market competition.
“The successful implementation of the National Competition Policy relies on the strong col laboration among government offices and sector regulators, not only those with competition-related mandates,” Chua said.
Recent efforts, Chua said, contributed to the improvement of the country’s competitiveness ranking. These include the enactment of the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act, the Philippine Innovation Act, the Rice Tariffication Law, and the implementation of the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program.
The country’s Chief Economist said these were followed up by the amendments to the Foreign Investment Act and the Public Service Act, which will open up telecommunication and transportation to foreign investments.
By relaxing restrictions, Chua said, the amendments will pave the way for the creation of decent jobs, the reduction in process, and improvement in services.
These will also maximize the benefits of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, which lowered the regular corporate income tax and made the grant of fiscal incentives more performance-based, targeted, time-bound, and transparent.