Most observers agree that the Philippine economy has performed exceptionally well under President Duterte, whose administration has been steadily laying the foundations for sustained economic growth. That’s why the President, survey after survey, has been consistently getting good grades from the people. Over the medium term, the economy is projected to continue expanding, propelled by infrastructure spending and robust domestic demand, among others.
In October, Forbes.com published a glowing review dubbed “The Philippines’ Per-Capita GDP Has Reached An All-Time High Under Duterte.” In the article, Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote: “The average Filipino is doing better under President Duterte. When it comes to per-capita gross domestic product [GDP], that is. That’s a measure of the total output of a country divided by the number of people in that country. The Philippines’ per-capita GDP was last recorded at an all-time high of $2,891.36 in 2017, according to Tradingeconomics.com. That’s well above the average of $1,627.98 for the period 1960-2017.”
The Forbes article added that “Filipinos are doing better under Duterte when per-capita GDP is adjusted by purchasing power parity [PPP],” an economic theory that compares different countries’ currencies through a “basket of goods” approach. Using this method, Forbes reported that Philippine PPP reached a record $7,599.19 in 2017, well above the average of $4,969.71 for the period 1990 to 2017.
Although the article cautioned that a resurgence in the cost of living in recent months can make things worse for the people, a respected economist has said Filipinos now stand at the precipice of hope and unlimited opportunity as more possibilities open to a generation that is more educated and more attuned to global sensibilities.
To be fair, the President has made it clear from the start that he leaves the running of the country’s economic affairs to the experts—his economic managers. And their economic policy is beginning to produce clear results. For example, our third-quarter GDP growth of 6.1 percent, although below target, still makes us one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.
This prompted a prominent economist to predict that the Philippine economic growth story is expected to match with the so-called Asian century in the next 20 years, which would see the rise of countries like China, India and the Asean economic community. Bernardo Villegas, economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific, said the country’s growing per capita GDP points to great possibilities for the Philippines to rise from a lower middle-income economy to an upper middle-income country.
“We are definitely on the way in the next 20 years to first-world status,” he said in a recent economic briefing. Villegas cited the HSBC’s The Wider World in 2050 study, noting that the country is expected to be the 16th-largest economy in the world by 2050.
Although many Duterte supporters positively believe in our growth potential as a nation, current realities dictate that the President may not be able to change the Philippines from a third-world country to a first-world country during his term. What is important, however, is the fact that the Duterte administration has a solid economic program that will lay the groundwork for the country’s strong and sustained economic growth.