August 14, 2018

The Philippine peso regained more strength against the dollar on Monday, August 6, 2018, after the US economic growth was revised downward. The local currency gained 30 centavos to close at P52.85:$1 from P53.15 on last Friday.

This gain was the most substantial level for the peso since closing at 52.7 on June 8, 2018. Trading volume rose to $892.9 million yesterday from $595.15 million last week Friday.

This is good news for our country’s economy. The peso has been continuously gaining ground against the dollar, but the price of basic commodities are the same? Oil and gas prices are not falling as fast as we would like it to be and the opposite is happening as gas prices are going up again. Oil and gas are especially important because lower prices for these two will have a snowball effect on prices of commodities and transportation fares.

Another indicator that the economy is doing well is the stock market as the key index has already climbed to historic highs which is good news because there will be lots of money pouring in from foreign investors as well as local players. But aside from investors who will profit from a robust stock market, when will the benefits trickle down to us average consumers.

A strong peso and a robust stock market look very good on paper, but when it comes to actually being felt by the consumers, it is another story. I am tempted to say that you can’t eat a GNP growth statistic or a 3500-point stock market index, but I know that it does have a profound effect on our economy that will benefit us in the long term. But for the meanwhile, I hope prices of basic commodities and utilities will go down for all of us to fully enjoy the benefits of an economy that is finally moving forward.

The Philippine economy is emerging over the battle of economic struggles. Although several hindrances attempt to overturn the economy of the Philippines, it remains sturdy on its ground to obtain stability and improved commercialism.

In the year 2007, the Philippines became the world’s 37th country with the largest economy regarding International Monetary Fund. In Asia, the Philippines continue to be the fastest growing country in terms of economic development. Although its economic growth was slightly affected by the global economic crisis, the recession did not halt the economic progress of the Philippines.

The Philippine Major Economic Sectors

The Philippines has three major economic sectors namely agriculture, service and industry. These three large sectors in the Philippines are categorized according to the country’s Gross Domestic Products. The service sector exhibits to be continuously growing while the country’s agricultural sector remains to be substantially declining due to the effects of El Niño and climate changes. This sector contributes to the 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic products. The industry sector plays 32 percent while the service sector plays a dominant role of 48 percent in the Philippine economy.

The Philippine’s Economic Industry

The Philippine’s agriculture, fishing, and forestry industries contribute to the country’s gross domestic products while it also has a growing sector in manufacturing, mining and construction industries. The commercial crops in the Philippines are centered on bananas, corn, rice, sugar cane, papayas, and mangoes.

Although exportation of hardwood once been a popular industry in the country, it gave rise to the increasing illegal logging which prompts the government to ban the exportation of hardwood logs. However, this does not curtail the legal exportation of lumber products from the country.

The manufacturing industry also contributes to the growing economy of the Philippines with players from various sectors of non-durable goods and textiles, products on tobacco, processed foods, furniture, non-electrical equipment and electrical goods.

The Philippine government defines its economic reforms to ensure that the country’s economy will be stable and continuously grow. They are providing an environment that will attract foreign investments to strengthen the country’s economic growth further while giving equal importance to both import and export with trading partners with foreign countries like Hong Kong, United States, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore among others. These are the major countries importing chemicals, metals, petroleum, textiles, foods, and equipment for transportation. The Philippines also export main products such as coconut, electrical and electronic items, textile, and fish to these countries.

The remittances to the country by the overseas Filipino workers contribute to the 10 percent of Philippine’s GDP. This contributes to a significant value in helping the country establish a more stable economic level. There are about more than 6 millions of Filipinos working abroad mostly in the IT, medical and skilled workers industry. Some are working as domestic helpers, engineers, servicemen in the military, architects, nurses, doctors, and accountants. About 1/3 of the overseas Filipino workers are in the retail, hospitality and food/beverage sectors.

There was also a boost in the county’s economy by the surge of trends in the business process outsourcing (BPO) due to the low cost of doing business in the country with the highest numbers of skilled and literate Pilipinos to rely on. This further gave the Philippine economy better progress and stability.