Opening up of the Philippine economy towards greater normalcy was the key accomplishment of the Marcos administration in its initial year in office, an economist said on Saturday.
“The key highlight of accomplishments of the administration has been the reopening of the economy towards greater normalcy,” Michael Ricafort, the chief economist of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), said in a media forum in Quezon City.
“Iyon po ‘yung prinayoritize [prioritize] kasi po iyong ibig sabihin noon galing po tayo sa isa sa pinakamatagal na lockdown sa buong mundo, so may hesitancy. So, isa po iyon kasi sa missing elements ng recovery po ng ating ekonomiya. So iyon po ‘yung una,” he said.
According to Ricafort, the Marcos government also started investing into the future with its goal of becoming a middle-income status country in the next few years.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many global banks were predicting that the Philippines would become a big economy by 2050 and beyond, he said.
The key element, Ricafort said, is the country’s huge population.
“Kasi po ang Pilipinas, isa sa pinakamalaking… well, pagdating sa populasyon – one of the biggest in the world—12th biggest in the world, that’s more than 110 million Filipinos. Iyon po ‘yung key ingredient, kumbaga iyong key requirement,” the economist explained.
“So iyon po ‘yung common doon sa mga bansa na iyun na maaaring mag-dominate in the coming decades…(year) 2050 iyong cutoff.”
To attain that goal, however, the country’s economy has to be productive and must have a well-educated work force, Ricafort said, noting more than half of the current Philippine population since 2015 is within the working age.
Out of the total population, more than 50 million Filipinos are already of working age, Ricafort said, adding the average age is less than 25 years old, which makes the country’s economy productive.
“Kaya iyan po ‘yung perspective na nili-layout po natin kaya importante talaga na i-focus iyong education para talagang maging productive iyong future generation. You have to consider the fact that for many years, the biggest expenditure item is education,” he stressed.
“Kaya it’s an investment approach eh. In the future, they would—iyong mga kabataan, the next generation would become productive, they would start to earn ‘no, they have incomes, they have spending power.”
With the country returning to an average growth rate of at least 6 percent, Ricafort said it must be supported structurally and the opening up the economy and allowing face-to-face classes in schools have been key accomplishments of the administration, which are the missing elements for recovery. PND
