Rapid 2022 growth just a flash in the pan, poverty even increased — IBON

January 27, 2023

Relatively rapid growth in 2022 is only a rebound after the protracted pandemic lockdowns and there will be a steep slowdown this year.

Bongbong will be tested on the economy in 2023

January 21, 2023

The binding constraint to steadier progress and development is the outdated faith in market forces. The blindness to the state’s responsibility to intervene will mean worse times in 2023. It will also reopen lockdown wounds that were hidden by last year’s rebound but haven’t really healed yet.

Gov’t growth hype hides worsening situation of ordinary Filipinos — IBON

November 23, 2022

The finance secretary’s recent trumpeting of rapid growth is hype, and in reality the economy and the conditions of ordinary Filipinos have barely even returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Recovery stalls with Q2 GDP quarter-to-quarter contraction — IBON

August 11, 2022

Contrary to the new economic team’s hype, research group IBON said that the quarter-on-quarter contraction of the economy in the second quarter of 2022 shows that recovery remains weak and requires more determined government action. IBON said that reopening the economy is not enough because too many Filipinos are still jobless, earn too little, and […]

No Mavericks Among Economic Top Guns

June 15, 2022

The next administration’s economic agenda will be fully presented at the state of the nation address in July. There are hardly any specifics yet. Still, the tidbits already emerging can be interpreted against the incoming economic team members’ individual track record and especially in the context of the long arc of neoliberal thinking that has defined Philippine policymaking over the last half century.

PH among worst performers in Southeast Asia

June 13, 2022

The government hypes the Duterte legacy but comparing growth, jobs, inflation, trade and debt figures with other Southeast Asian countries shows the Philippine economy as among the poorest performers. This is due not only to its poor COVID response, harsh lockdowns and refusal of economic stimulus but to pre-pandemic mispriorities.

Only among the rich

May 27, 2022

8.3% in Q1-2022 the end of high GDP growth rates

May 12, 2022

While economic growth in the first quarter of 2022 is welcome, this is mainly driven by base effects and election-related spending. Growth is also weak and unsustainable considering the unfavorable jobs market. Things could be even worse depending on how the volatile global economy plays out. This will likely be the last relatively high growth reported, and the next administration will have to make do with weaker growth performance.

10 things about the economy that the Duterte administration should admit

April 4, 2022

At its economic briefing, the Duterte government will likely hype growth, claim successful COVID response and play up so-called reforms. All this seeks to distract from how social and economic development has been set back by the administration even before the pandemic.