Some Facts About Philippines Economy

The economy of the Philippines

First Published Date: April 8, 2014 ADawnJournal.com

With its over 100 million population and 95.4 percent literacy rate, the Philippines – a once poor country that suffered from sluggish economic growth – turned out to be one of the fastest growing in the world. GDP growth was 7.6, 3.9, 6.8, and 7.2 percent in from 2010 to 2013 consecutively.

In the first and second quarter of 2013, GDP grew at 7.7 and 7.5 percent, making the Philippines the fastest performing country in Asia followed by China and Indonesia. The Philippines economy in 1998 was less affected by the Asian Financial Crisis than any other Asian countries.

Filipino economy is made of 57 percent services sector, 31 percent industry, and 12 percent agriculture. The Philippines has the world’s largest business processing outsourcing centre and a strong industrial manufacturing sector for electronics for multi-national corporations.

In terms of natural resources, the Philippines is rich in oil, coal, copper, chromite, and nickel. Its major trading partners are Japan, USA, China, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

In terms of its 2012 GDP, the Philippines is the 40th largest country largest economy in the world. Its unemployment rate is at 7.01 percent and 26 percent people live below the poverty line. The Philippines ranks 59th out of 148 countries in the 2012 – 2103 Global Comparativeness Index, 89 out of 178 countries in the 2014 Economic Freedom Index, and 94th out of 175 countries in the 2013 Corruption Perception Index.

The Philippines, while greatly improving its economy, still it has a lot of work to do. The country faces many challenges, such as improving governance and the judicial system, upgrading its infrastructure, improving its extreme poverty, improving ease of doing business, attracting more foreign investments, and reducing corruption.

As we look forward, the Philippines is working hard to move forward into the future with its remarkable growth. Goldman Sachs predicts that the Philippines will be the 14th largest economy in the world by 2050. HSBC predicts that by 2050 Philippines will be 16th largest in the world and the largest in Southeast Asia.