Sometime ago, a prestigious international professional services network PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) based in London issued a report on its projections for the world’s economic and financial landscape by 2050 and came up with conclusions of tremendous interest to us in the Philippines.
In the report, entitled “The Long View: How Will the Global Economic Order Change by 2050?,” said it expects global economic power to shift away from today’s established economies in North America, Europe, and Japan in the next 35 years towards China and India. China is projected to have a global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of 61,079, followed by India with 41,484.
They are followed on the list by Indonesia, 12,210 GDP; Brazil, 9,164 GDP; Mexico, 8,014 GDP; Japan, 7,914 GDP; Russia, 7,575 GDP; and Nigeria, 7,345 GDP.
The Philippines, which was No. 28 in the 2014 list with 695 GDP, is surprisingly projected to be No. 20 with 3,516 GDP in 2050, ahead of fellow ASEAN nations Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Malaysia. We would be, in the view of this international economic and financial institution, one of the world’s 20 richest countries in the world.
We have not really thought of ourselves as a rich country, but this PWC assessment must see in us a potential that is now becoming evident. A major factor seems to be a shift in world growth towards Asia, notably China and India.
President Duterte’s vigorous implementation of an independent foreign policy, as mandated by the Constitution, comes at a most opportune time. This coming April, he will be joining the Belt and Road Initiative Forum in China, at the invitation of China President Xi Jinping who was here last November. This will be the President’s fourth visit to China since he assumed office in 2016.
The Philippines is also developing stronger relations with its fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This strengthening of ties with fellow Asian nations is taking place even as we maintain our close ties with and friendly relations with our old ally the United States.
All these projections for the future should inspire our leaders to strive even harder for the economic progress expected in 31 years, both for the prestige our nation will enjoy in the family of nations and, more important, for the better lives that our people should be living as a progressive country.