Informative Speech

Guico, Nikki Andrea C. May 9, 2019

2APL Dr. Susan Butac

Philippines: Asia’s Emerging Tiger Economy

The Philippines has come a long way in order to become one of the best in our region, if

not the world. Our country has struggled to improve and match our neighboring countries’

economy for the longest time. Indeed, this past five years proved that the Philippines is on the

right track to become, if not already, one of the most rapidly growing economies in Asia.

Let us recap all the economic milestones our country has reached this past five years. In

2013, the Philippines was already experiencing rapid economic growth. During the Aquino

administration, our country was achieved an “investment grade” status from the world’s leading

credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. A year after, Standard and Poor’s

upgraded our credit rating to a notch above “investment grade”. This allowed our country to be

attractive to more foreign investments and capital for local development projects and

infrastructures. During this time, the Philippines had greatly improved its world economic

ranking and outlook.

` `According to a report Oxford Business Group (OBG) in 2017, the Philippines was

poised as most likely to become the next “tiger economy” in the ASEAN region. Despite the

worsening infrastructure deficit and our weak global exports, our country was still given a

positive outlook by the International Monetary Fund, with a forecast of 7-8% GDP growth in

2017. New transportation projects approved will improve trade and operating costs and aid in
boosting the economy. Other factors that contributed to the Philippines’ economic growth are the

flourishing BPO sector and real estate development sector, particularly in Metro Manila.

Because of the “Build, Build, Build” program of the current administration, the

Philippines is experiencing sky-high spending and investments in infrastructures like never

before. Real estate development, commercial projects, and urban city development are on the rise

and slated to contribute greatly to business and foreign investment prospects.

Despite all these milestones though, our rapidly boosting economic growth has failed to

trickle down to the lower class sector of our country. This a known phenomenon happening in

other emerging markets in the Philippines. The developments and improvements happening are

mostly felt by the business, service and upper to middle income sectors through the reformed tax

laws or TRAIN law. The agricultural sector of the Philippines also fell behind others despite our

economic developments. Farmers, fishermen and other laborers still remain to be unaffected by

our boosting economic situation. It remains to be seen on how our current government will

alleviate this situation. These are the challenging issues that our country must solve in order keep

us in the right track to be on top of the global economic race.

Fast forward to 2019, the Philippines is on the cusp of its midterm elections surrounded

by political tensions and controversies. Despite this, however, our country’s economic outlook

for the next years is extremely positive.

According to the chief economist of OHS Markit Asia Pacific Rajiv Biswas stated that

the Philippines will achieve the upper-middle income status as the strong economic growth

trickles down to household incomes. This growth in middle-income households will boost

consumer spending which then will contribute to the already growing gross domestic product
(GDP) of the Philippines. Biswas speculated that by 2022 the per capita GDP per person would

reach $4,000 and $8,200 by 2032 with Philippine GDP forecast exceeding $1 trillion. These

predictions are due to the strong overseas Filipino worker (OFW) remittances, stable service

exports, particularly the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, and the tourism sector.

Biswas also cited the robust electronics exports, reduced government debt to the economy and

President Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program.

Despite these achievements however, world credit rating agency Fitch and the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) have their misgivings regarding our economic growth which

prompted both agencies to cut down our gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 6.5

percent from 6.6 percent due to abysmal global economic prospects and the cut down spending

of government due to budget delays.

With the Philippines projected to be one of the fastest growing economies in the ASEAN

region and poised to rank 16th largest economy in the world by 2050 according to HSBC, the

pressure is in our hands in order to make this huge opportunity a reality for the future generations

of Filipinos. This is because the main driver of our economic growth is our relatively young

population. We, as Filipinos, should look at the possibilities of our future and strive to reach that

goal. Improving our lives shouldn’t be just left to our government. We should actively participate

and contribute in this golden age of growth and support the government in making this future a

reality for every Filipino regardless of their economic status.

We are given a great opportunity to improve our country and our fellow countrymen’s

lives. The Philippines was once looked up to by our neighboring countries, we had reached our

golden age once before. Then the World Wars happened and effects of those wars left us
damaged. Add into that the onslaught of corruption and political distress that followed after the

wars. We fought against each other and failed to cultivate true nationalism and love of of our

country. In my opinion, this is our ultimate weakness and our own demise if we do not change.

Filipinos do not love the Philippines; Filipinos do not love other Filipinos. This is our ultimate

obstacle in rising on top. Not corruption, not politics, not greed. We lack the love for our dear

Philippines.

However, despite these positive forecasts of our economy, we should be cautious of our

goals lest we become like South Korea who experienced such a fast growth in just thirty years

that although they are currently considered one of the biggest economies in the world, they have

developed detrimental social issues such as long working hours, difficult and demanding

education system, extremely competitive corporate ladder and high suicide rates.

We all the information I have bombarded you, I know you will not remember most of

these facts. But what I want you to take away from this is the determination to dream and hope

that all the these positive and great possibilities for our future will happen. I want everyone to

make this future a reality, to be able to foster in ourselves the longing and ambition to contribute

and make this happen. How? Very simple. Love the Philippines. Because if you love our

country, you will start improving yourself as a Filipino. You will make an effort to educate

yourself in politics and voting, and involve yourself in government decisions as much as you

can. Be proactive in supporting local industries and love our culture. Once we achieve this,

however impossible it is, we will change our nation. We can succeed in making our country great

and successful.
 I hope each and every one will succeed in shaping and changing our country for the

future of our Filipino youth. It is all dependent on our actions today in determining if we are

successful or not. Our rapid economic growth should help us become a first-world nation in 50

years and maintaining this growth will be imperative to our future.