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WHEN the going gets tough, the tough get going—and
President Gloria Arroyo was living that adage to the full in Hong
Kong when she addressed the 11th Credit Suisse Asian Investment
Conference.
A glowingly bullish President
Arroyo gave her influential audience the glad tidings that 2007 was
the best year for the Philippine economy in over 30 years, with
economic growth sustained at 7.3 percent and a million new jobs
created.
She further enthused: “Foreign
investments have been steady and strong. We have been cited by
London as the “offshore destination of the year” and by the
International Data Corporation as the top global outsourcing
destination after India.
“Our billion-dollar investment
club includes Texas Instruments with its new 1.6 billion-dollar
wafer fabrication facility under construction and two shipyards of
Hanjin costing $3.7billion which makes us the fourth biggest
shipbuilder in the world.
“In addition, Marubeni and AES
have each invested billions of dollars in our power sector. They
have joined the ranks of Shell and Proctor and Gamble, to name but a
few of our major investors.”
All this good news being aired
across the South China Sea may strike a sharp contrast to the
political noise being generated back home. But the fact is the
Philippine economy is now having its best run in over three
decades— and a fitting testimonial to the first President to come
to office with impeccable economic credentials.
Now in understandable overdrive,
President Arroyo went on: “We will continue to be increasingly
strong in manufacturing, high technology, services across the board
from outsourcing to aircraft maintenance, as well as tourism and
real estate. We see many, many opportunities for investors—the
Philippines is one of the best values in Asia.
“This month, the International
Monetary Fund lauded our economic growth, the substantial reduction
in our budget deficit, low inflation and the improvement in investor
confidence. The IMF executive directors highlighted, in particular,
our fine central bank for smoothening foreign exchange fluctuations
as the peso touched an eight-year high against the U.S. dollar in
recent months. During this same time, the country’s foreign
exchange reserves reached a record high.
“2008 holds real promise for a
different reason. Not only do we expect continued strong growth, but
as a result of our total economic overhaul, we are well-positioned
to weather a global economic slowdown which, unfortunately, will
affect all of us.
“The real story for 2008 is
that our macroeconomic fundamentals are stronger than ever due to
tough choices we have made on boosting revenues, cracking down on
tax cheats, bringing reform to our revenue collection and
modernizing our banking and financial sector.
“We have reformed our budget to
be in balance ahead of the medium- term plan schedule of 2010. Last
year, our deficit was only P12.4 billion, the lowest in ten years
and far below the ceiling of P63 billion. Revenues were up 16
percent from 2006.
“Seven years ago, no one
thought we could do it, but we have. There will be no rest. We are
continuing the pace of progress that has succeeded in strengthening
our economy. I’m confident that the Philippines will tip forward
in pursuit of reaching the threshold of first-world nations within a
generation”.
The President’s words were
obviously well heeded. She came back home this week with $2 billion
in new investments. Not bad for two days’ work in Hong Kong!
Email: bizzfizz_98@yaho.com
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