Filipinos urged to focus on business not on crisis

A Filipino economist stressed the need for Filipinos to stay focus and confident to weather the global crisis.

In his discussion on the topic Philippine Economy Under Siege: Trends and Prospects; Emilio T. Antonio, president of the Center for Research and Communication Foundation said that current economic trends of the country show that we are in a recent slowdown but is still faster by past economic standards and while prices are moving up, these however are relatively mild.

Benchmarks for this observation he said could be attributed by the growth in the percentage of our peso value expenses and the peso value production for the fist semester of this year.

Antonio reported that peso value expenses is at 11.5 percent lead by consumption, investments and the government sector while peso value production is currently at 11.4 percent lead by the growth in the agriculture sector, industries and services sectors.

He said that to check if we can depend on these records, we need to check on underlying facts against frameworks.

“Running an economy is like running a household. The key concerns include cash position, balance between income and expenses and the access to other people’s money,” he said.

With these key indicators, Antonio pointed out the need for the government to manage and balance our economic spending and our income.

And right now the country has been able to improve our income spending balance which is a sharp contrast with our past economic situations as our cash reserves have built up from the surplus of income versus spending.

“Claims on economic performance are backed up by firm fundamentals. The price environment has been significantly stabilized and from the past we have moved on as income and buying power is moving up faster. But the economy seems to be under siege again with threats on price stability such as oil pre hikes and food price increase and income growth brought by US recession and strong currency,” he said.

He explained that sharp spike of recent inflation that has reached to 12.5 percent in August is due to the increase of rice prices to almost 45 percent and the price of oil in the world market.

But he stressed that, “these things are clearly beyond our control, a reality that is to be accepted. But there are two sides in any price increases because it may be bad for consumers, it is good for producers.”

With these threats he said that Filipinos should brace for continued talks about Philippine economy being under siege but must keep calm and focus. – Rhia de Pablo