9% is 'doable'
Published Jul 19, 2022 12:05 am
MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
While all other experts, including those in the Department of Finance, agree that the economy will grow by 6 to 6.5 percent, Henry Lim Bon Liong, “hybrid rice king” and president of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc., is standing by his forecast: “GDP will grow between 7 and 9 percent.”
Mr. Lim’s and the Federation’s optimism is somehow echoed by an SWS poll showing 46 percent of respondents are upbeat about an improvement in the economy while only 6 percent fear that things will get worse. I don’t suppose those polled based their opinion on data but on their gut-feel and that good old “Filipino resiliency,” which though not scientifically grounded may speak a different truth, i.e., their real-life experience in the world, where they are consumers as well as producers, spenders as well as savers.
FFCCCII’s projection, in the words of its president, is anchored on the following:
Tourism expected to rebound in the last two quarters;
Return of face-to-face classes, a boon to the retail business;
BBM’s “takeover” of the Department of Agriculture resulting in farmers producing more, thus remaining competitive;
All these, plus strong remittances from our OFW’s whose families will be getting more for their pesos from the dollars sent home, thanks to the ₱56-plus exchange rate.
It all comes down to stoking the urge to spend, spend, spend. For the longest time – like the last 30 years – FFCCCII’s rallying cry, which has since been incorporated into a slogan that sounds more and more like a mantra, has been “Buy local, save jobs.” Spend, spend, spend; buy, buy, buy. (As an aside, I’m set to spend money for my early Christmas list at SM’s Kultura, the place to go crazy over beautiful and useful, practical but magical crafts made by hand or by ingenious, indigenous witchcraft, as I call it, exotically delivered from all over our islands.)
More than wishful thinking, more than faith in the Filipino consumer, Henry Lim Bon Liong’s rosy forecast is rooted in the federation’s structure and reach: an executive committee of 12 vice presidents, 16 committees interacting with 170 trade and commercial organizations spread out from north to south – quite a network of listening posts.
Jullie Y. Daza
While all other experts, including those in the Department of Finance, agree that the economy will grow by 6 to 6.5 percent, Henry Lim Bon Liong, “hybrid rice king” and president of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc., is standing by his forecast: “GDP will grow between 7 and 9 percent.”
Mr. Lim’s and the Federation’s optimism is somehow echoed by an SWS poll showing 46 percent of respondents are upbeat about an improvement in the economy while only 6 percent fear that things will get worse. I don’t suppose those polled based their opinion on data but on their gut-feel and that good old “Filipino resiliency,” which though not scientifically grounded may speak a different truth, i.e., their real-life experience in the world, where they are consumers as well as producers, spenders as well as savers.
FFCCCII’s projection, in the words of its president, is anchored on the following:
Tourism expected to rebound in the last two quarters;
Return of face-to-face classes, a boon to the retail business;
BBM’s “takeover” of the Department of Agriculture resulting in farmers producing more, thus remaining competitive;
All these, plus strong remittances from our OFW’s whose families will be getting more for their pesos from the dollars sent home, thanks to the ₱56-plus exchange rate.
It all comes down to stoking the urge to spend, spend, spend. For the longest time – like the last 30 years – FFCCCII’s rallying cry, which has since been incorporated into a slogan that sounds more and more like a mantra, has been “Buy local, save jobs.” Spend, spend, spend; buy, buy, buy. (As an aside, I’m set to spend money for my early Christmas list at SM’s Kultura, the place to go crazy over beautiful and useful, practical but magical crafts made by hand or by ingenious, indigenous witchcraft, as I call it, exotically delivered from all over our islands.)
More than wishful thinking, more than faith in the Filipino consumer, Henry Lim Bon Liong’s rosy forecast is rooted in the federation’s structure and reach: an executive committee of 12 vice presidents, 16 committees interacting with 170 trade and commercial organizations spread out from north to south – quite a network of listening posts.