FORBES ASIA 2/15/2015 @ 9:00PM
Ralph Jennings
Contributor
Some country in Asia is always growing crazily on factory investment and a strong consumer base. Then when the West gets to idolizing it, the place slips. Japan is just now testing emergence from 20 years of sloth after a roaring 1980s that worried competitive Americans. China’s growth is slowing year by year to what the Beijing government calls a “new norm.†Vietnam goes on and off the watch list. Now comes the Philippines, an icon of consumption-crazed Southeast Asia where wages are low and people eager for jobs with multinationals.
Here are five reasons the Philippine economy will grow:
Corruption is down. The country known for brazen acts of graft such as a scheme that diverted millions of anti-poverty dollars to legislators has cut back corruption under President Benigno Aquino III. Since he took office in 2010, transparency of government work is up and kickbacks down as people monitor one another, using social media for ratting some of the dirt out. Graft busting is hard to quantify but saving the public money, says Jonathan Ravelas, first vice president with the Banco de Oro treasury group in Manila. “People try to be very careful in how they do things,†he says. “(Graft) has gone down significantly, but it’s still there. It’s a work in progress and it will take time.â€
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