Stories tagged
‘neda’

A ‘feel-good’ only economy?

RAMDAM MO na nga ba?

Even the current administration is probably asking itself this question — “Do you really feel it?” — since the recorded performance of the Philippine economy in 2007 surprised everyone, including the government. With GDP growth likely to have exceeded seven percent for the full year, the economy appears to have overshot the government target of 6.1-6.7 percent for the year. And with relatively stable prices manifested in a low inflation rate, and an apparently improving jobs picture as of the third quarter, we are finally seeing good news on all three basic economic yardsticks that the ordinary Filipino can understand: presyo (prices), hanapbuhay (jobs) and kita (income). Inflation (2.8 percent) is well within the 2.6-3.1 percent projected range; unemployment is down to 6.3 percent from last year’s 7.3 percent; and income (GDP) growth (7.1 percent so far) is better than the targeted 6.1-6.7 percent. Until recently, the best we could do was a “two-out-of-three” score, with jobs data having consistently lagged behind the other two indicators.