Forex controls in the 1950s
The 1950s were an era of foreign exchange and import controls for the Philippines. This lasted for a solid one decade during which the country undertook to rehabilitate from the war and move toward political and economic independence. We could have built the nation better in those formative years.
‘Weaponized’ incentives and TRAIN 2
That the discussion of incentives to correct a missing market failure has gravitated around incentives to attract entry is natural. But sometimes, entry is only one part of the equation. The incentives to stay is another.
Q2 growth: Old or New Normal
The 6% GDP growth in Q2 is a three-year low and has renewed the conversation of revert to the old. Not because the 6% growth is to be sneezed at but because by mid-2018 the rain clouds are starting to gather.
Inclusion and exclusion in TRAIN
There are two flavors of inclusion: one is reduced income inequality; the other is reduced poverty incidence. They are not the same; nor does one necessarily follow the other. So they require different policy responses.
Who’s afraid of a weak peso?
Lately, the gradual depreciation of the peso (to P51/$) was accompanied by the familiar angst in the media.
This development is not new. What is new? This is happening without the familiar war frenzy among the authorities; there seems instead a healthy nonchalance .
Low FDI inflows: its genesis
I continue my discussion of last week and hark back to the early part of our independence history.
Unprocessed mineral export ban
In his 2017 SONA, Pres. Duterte threatened, among others, to stop the export of unprocessed mining products. This follows the ban on similar products in 2014 by Indonesia. The ostensive purpose of this exercise is to raise the value added from each unit of mineral export by subjecting to further processing locally.
Manufacturing, quality of growth, and poverty reduction
The economic cluster of the Duterte watch has been making noises about the revival of Manufacturing and bringing its poverty reducing bonanza to the regions. That is unequivocably a correct strategy. The recent past points to its validity. That recent past is the poverty reduction performance of the Aquino watch.
Dado, flight of tradables, and innovation
In one workshop organized to ruminate over possible futures for the Philippines which has been mired in the last 40 years, as it were, on south side of mediocrity, I was gladly surprised that Diosdado ‘Dado’ Banatao was a resource person.
Manufacturing renaissance?
There is renewed interest in the country as an investment destination; manufacturing growth has been robust; and some important foreign investments have entered the country (yes, including that indirectly famous Mitsubishi plant). This has led some quarters to even proclaim a “manufacturing renaissance". But take a slightly longer view of the matter and things...
BOI versus PEZA: ‘guided’ versus ‘more open’ industrial policy
The success of PEZA, though, is not enough to pull the industrial sector substantially forward. PEZA firms, however plentiful, are in general dwarfed by the total size of the national economy and by the sum of all industrial firms serving only the domestic market.
When will Philippine exports rebound?
For a labor surplus economy, it is in the interest of policy makers to see a rebound of Philippine exports so that more decent jobs will be created. But is an exports recovery plan in place?
