A new book, tracking the progress of developing countries, sees the Philippines joining an elite group of “tiger economies” in the world as a result of reforms and strong leadership of President S. Benigno Aquino III.
The book “Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles” written by Ruchir Sharma, assessed the Philippines as one of the strongest emerging economies in the future where enhanced economic activities are to take place.
"Now at long last, the Philippines looks poised to resume a period of strong growth. The new president, Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, probably has enough support, and looks likely to generate just enough reform momentum, to get the job done. The Aquino name is still virtually synonymous with the promise of change," Sharma wrote.
Sharma, one of the world's largest investors in emerging markets for Morgan Stanley, said Filipinos saw President Aquino as an honest figure who could deliver on the Aquino mandate for change and that the public was desperate after nine years of drift and decay under former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Aquino won the presidency at a time when it seemed that the whole country was in disrepair, he said. The President is delegating power to competent technocrats and seems to understand what needs to be done to get the country move forward, he said.
In a recent Wall Street Journal report, the publication sees the Philippines having clear signs of being seen as one of the most resilient economies in a troubled global economy particularly as a result of the European crisis.
In a supplement entitled "Asia’s Euro Risk: How Asia Will Fare if Europe Cracks?" the Wall Street Journal said only four economies were projected to have the strength to weather a European economic and financial crisis, namely Australia, China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
While other countries bear the brunt of the European fall out, these countries have deep government pockets that provide a buffer to economic shocks, the publication said.
"The Philippines is better prepared than in the past to withstand a downturn with a stronger government balance sheet and a robust domestic economy. Foreign reserves are high enough to fight capital flight,” according to WSJ’s brief assessment of the Philippines.
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are among the Southeast Asian countries affected by a euro meltdown because of their high dependencies on European trade and greater exposure to European banks, WSJ said.
The Philippines had the second highest per capita income in Asia during the 1960s, next only to Japan. In the 1970s, South Korea and Taiwan overtook the Philippines in terms of per capita income. Other Asian neighbors like Malaysia, Thailand, China and Indonesia followed during the succeeding decades.