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The global slowdown is having a dramatic impact on exports, and on manufacturing sectors geared towards overseas markets, such as electronics. Philippines exports plunged by 40.4% in December 2008 from a year earlier, the steepest fall in over two decades, and in step with export data from other countries in the region due to weak global demand. Electronics shipments alone contracted by 47.6% in December. Overall, export earnings fell by 2.86% in 2008. In February 2009, the government forecast that exports would fall by 8% in 2009 as key overseas markets fall into recession.
B. Various Social Unrest and Crimes The Republic of the Philippines was once one of the richest countries in Asia, but economic mismanagement and corruptionmost notoriously during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled from 1965 to 1986reduced the archipelago to one of the poorest. The economy has enjoyed relatively strong growth rates for much of the past two decades, but agriculture still accounts for around 20% of GDP and employs around 40% of the workforce. The country does have a growing manufacturing sector, producing goods such as semiconductors and electronic microcircuits, finished electrical machinery, and garments. Like India, the country is also benefiting from the outsourcing of IT operations from developed countries. Mining is potentially one of the biggest industriesthe country is rich in chromite, copper, nickel, and coaland natural gas has been discovered. A good educational system and the fact that Filipinos are taught in English means that their services are in demand abroadworker remittances account for more than 13% of GDP.
C. Environmental Status Unemployment rose in 2008 as the global downturn hit the manufacturing sector. The countrys jobless rate stood at 6.8% in October 2008, compared with 6.3% a year earlier. In February 2009, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary, Ralph Recto, further estimated that as many as 800,000 Filipino workers were in danger of losing their jobs in 2009a figure which, if realized, would push the jobless rate to above 10%. Inflation hit a 10-year high of 9.3% (annual average) in 2008. However, in February 2009, the central bank forecast that inflation would fall to 3.9% in 2009, lower than earlier estimates of 68%, and within the governments target of 2.54.5%. Tumbling commodity prices and weakening domestic demand are driving down inflation. The annual rate fell to 7.1% in January 2009, from 8% in December 2008, as prices for food and other basic commodities eased.