President Duterte is optimistic about the country's long-term growth despite the pandemic due to the Filipino nation's resilience, creativity, and other competitive advantages.

The President said the country was ready to be a "competitive actor in an open and fair global economy."

"Despite the pandemic, opportunities for growth remain," Duterte said during the virtual 26th International Conference on the Future of Asia organized by Japanese media giant Nikkei Inc. Friday, May 21.

"We are educated, creative, and resilient. Innovation is our big push. This will keep our country on the growth path for decades to come," he said.

In his address, Duterte highlighted the country's strengths, including its large domestic market with a population of 110 million, to fuel growth.

"Our median age is 25 years old. Forty percent of our population is below 20 years old. We are in a demographic sweet spot," he pointed out.

Duterte also cited the country has preferential access to major global markets as well as offers better incentives to enterprises and investors under a new fiscal reform law.

He was referring to Republic Act No. 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act. The law lowers the corporate income tax rate from 30 percent to 20 percent for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with a net taxable income under P5 million and total assets below P100 million. The CIT reduction for the rest of the companies will be 25 percent.

To help advance the country's economic recovery, Duterte said the government has also ramped up the massive Build, Build, Build infrastructure program. "We are maximizing physical integration in our archipelago and improving our connections with the rest of the modern world," he said.

In addition, Duterte said the country's transition to "a greener and more socially equitable economy" also offered more pathways for economic expansion and modernization.

The local economy suffered a steep decline in 2020 as it grappled with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The country went into strict lockdown last year to curb the virus spread but the restrictions weakened business and consumer activities. The government has eased quarantine curbs in a bid to ease unemployment and hunger figures while strengthening health care system and accelerating vaccination of Filipinos to help combat the pandemic.