“If this looks like a circus, it’s because it really is,†prominent investigative journalist Marites Vitug told me. In sum, after the new president is sworn in this July, the bad old days, when corrupt politicians were (disastrously) in charge of the economy, could soon come back.
The Philippines’ recent progress in becoming a more attractive place to invest has only thrown into sharp relief how much more needs to be done.
If that happens, the timing couldn’t be worse. The Philippines’ recent progress in becoming a more attractive place to invest has only thrown into sharp relief how much more needs to be done. For starters, a whole series of key sectors — ports, shipping, energy, logistics, mining, finance, telecommunications, agriculture, and food — are, one way or another, closed to meaningful competition. To sustain genuine economic growth, the next president will have to take on and break up an array of entrenched cartels, monopolies and duopolies. President Aquino has made a start, but unless these and other structural problems are addressed head-on, the country’s growth is almost sure to slow.
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