Economic concerns ease as Duterte unveils economic agenda

MANILA, Philippines – Economic concerns of the business community surrounding a Rodrigo Duterte administration are easing, but businessmen are turning cautious in terms of their growth forecast for the Philippines this year on the effects of a one-two punch provided by a dry spell and a possible onslaught of La Niña.

Heads of several local and foreign business groups interviewed by The STAR said apprehensions earlier raised against the incoming president have subsided following the unveiling of his eight-point economic agenda as well as recent appointments of Cabinet secretaries.

“Everybody is welcoming him and the business community is expecting much from our new president especially because he is in favor of lifting the economic provisions, the restrictions in our Constitution so that’s very welcome. And he also said he would fight criminality and leave business to business. That’s fantastic,” Management Association of the Philippines president Perry Pe said.

“We’ve seen his economic eight points. We agree that it looks fairly progressive and very reasonable. He said he’s going to continue the current macroeconomic policies and he’s going to ease restrictions on foreign investments so we are happy with that. But we will be very happy to see the details of this. It’s a difficult period because they haven’t made the transition yet so we’re waiting,” Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines president Julian Payne added.

For the two business group heads, politics and the change in administration would have very minimal impact on the country’s economic expansion this year.

Instead, they see external events and occurrences of El Niño and La Niña as bigger game changers for the economy.

According to Pe, he sees the country’s economy growing between four to five percent this year despite a remarkable 6.9 percent growth in the first quarter.

Pe said his cautious forecast is not due to the incoming Duterte administration but because of outside factors and certain events such as a devastating typhoon or flood that could occur with the expected rise of La Niña in the second half.

“We have to anticipate these events because those are the things that may hamper growth, not on the politics because the politics is very clear. He (Duterte) can take care of politics and business can take care of business,” Pe said.