ADB sees Phl growth at 6.4%

MANILA, Philippines - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects economic growth in the Philippines to slow down to 6.4 percent this year, coming off a robust 7.2 percent pace last year, a bank official said.

In a press briefing, ADB country director for the Philippines Richard Bolt said the country would likely sustain its strong economic growth although at a more modest pace from the previous year.

He said even the recovery and reconstruction works in the devastated areas hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda and the benefits that come with the peace accord with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippines is not expected to experience any major gains within the next few years.

However, there remains a number of challenges ahead, Bolt said.

He noted that the Philippines must take advantage of the country’s strong fundamentals in developing more and better jobs that benefit a larger number of Filipinos.

There are nearly three million unemployed people and another seven million are underemployed nationwide.

Poverty incidence remains vastly unchanged from 26.6 percent in 2006 to 25.2 percent in 2012.

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for the Philippines is a poverty incidence of just 16.6 percent.

“Job creation is critical,” the newly-installed ADB country director said.

He said the matching of education, training, manufacturing and other industries become even more critical.

Manufacturing linked with agriculture offers a matching opportunity, and already the ADB suggests food production and food processing based in rural areas.

In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) report, the ADB said manufacturing grew by 10.5 percent last year, or twice the rate experienced in 2012.

“A strong manufacturing sector would generate more and better jobs, and manufacturing linked to agriculture would enable the poor in rural areas to rise out of poverty,” the ADB said.

The ADB official also brought the significance of peace in Southern Philippines, especially in the former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Developing the roads and transport system in the Bangsa Moro areas and the former ARMM in Mindanao is one answer to poverty alleviation, as developing the economies in Mindanao can likewise open the sea links of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) corridor that has been relatively dormant, Bolt said.