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The Residences at Greenbelt Makati by Judgefloro (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons |
Last year was an exceptional year for Philippines, the
economy is still in the high point, registering an economic growth of 6.8% (GDP
2017p). Yet, the growth is seen to be centered on the middle and upper class of
the society. The question arises, how do we include the bottom in the economic
development? This is crucial question because the bottom can be the cause of
problems of society (crime, cyclical poverty, over population and the likes).
Create Jobs for the
Poorest of the Poor
We all know that the start of the problem in an economy is
unemployment. Unemployment (if you don’t have a business) means you don’t have
money to spend to buy food & beverages, to pay for house rental, water
& electricity, to pay for transportation, and to use other services. That
is, when basic needs are not met, a person could possibly shift to survival
mindset and could possibly commit a crime. This coincide with Adam Smith statement
that, no society could truly be happy with a portion of its population down to
poverty.
What we want to prevent is the poverty cycle; that is when
the poorest of the past are still the poorest of today. The solution is to give
them jobs, jobs that are easy to do, jobs that doesn’t require special skills –
such as construction work, road works, community works and the likes. Work in
agriculture sector doesn’t also require high skill, if we teach poor people to
plant they would probably earn money. The crucial investment for agriculture
employment is land, seed, and irrigation.
Improve Security
We have learned last year 2017, that even though there is a
massive effort to curve crime and illegal drug use, the bad guys are still
there and doing their usual routine. There is much more to do when it comes to
ensuring the safety of people on the street. On the other side, Philippines
government is trying to boost the morale of police officers by increasing their
salary.
Market Philippines
Tourism Around the World
There is no doubt that Philippines has the best beaches
around the world backed by a tropical climate. Surely, if all foreign travelers,
looking for white sands, knows that it’s cheaper to have fun in our country then
tourists arrival will hit its peak. Tourism needs to be one of the priorities of
the government since it creates income to small businesses.
Improve Mass
Transportation
As more people flocked to cities of Metro Manila, more and
more will demand for transportation. The daily traffic on the streets of Manila
is a normal scenery, while one of the solution is to add and expand roads and bridges,
this would probably take long years before being implemented. Improving mass
transportation like trains (MRT, LRT, PNR) would surely benefit the public,
this should not take too long since we have the train rails in place.
Improve Exports and
Manufacturing Sector
Manufacturing sector not only create jobs, but it also increases
our foreign reserve (Dollars) if it engages in exporting of goods and lessens
our imports if it engages in domestic selling. As we demand more goods from
abroad (cars, cell phones, laptop and, etc.) we would also need to have enough reserves
of foreign money. This is very important since this affect the value of our
money (foreign exchange). If more countries demand for Philippines goods (thru
manufacturing) and services (thru BPO and OFW) then we will observe that our
currency will be much stronger compare to other foreign currency (e.g. USD vs.
PHP); we will be able to convert Peso in higher amount of foreign currency. If
we don’t have enough supply of foreign currency, that means that there is no much
demand for our goods and services from abroad, that would mean that we will
have difficulty of accessing foreign goods and services in the long run.
Philippines 2018 GDP Forecast
Philippines economy is projected to hit 7% GDP growth this
2018. The numbers is set to high point since the country has many rooms for
growth. Private sector businesses are increasingly expanding their business
locally and government is set to disburse a budget of PHP 3.767 Trillion (USD 74.79
Billion) this year.
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