An economist thinks the Marcos administration made the right decision in continuing with investing in education, citing how the country's young and productive workforce has been able to keep the Philippines afloat even during difficult times, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said.
*File photo*

In a statement, the PCO cited an interview with RCBC chief economist Michael Ricafort, who noted that the Philippine economy grew because of the country's demographic "sweet spot", despite the weak performances of both the manufacturing and agriculture sectors. He said having a demographic sweet spot meant the majority of the population was within working age, so the workforce was productive. "When a country's population is young, people are earning more, have greater spending power, and have more debt," Ricarfort said. According to Ricafort, the government's move to invest in education was a good decision as countries that failed to develop their education systems usually fell into a debt or poverty trap. "It's like investing into the future kasi magiging productive iyon, eh (because they will become productive)," he said. The RCBC economist said the Philippines was benefitting from having a demographic sweet spot, noting that the country was now the fourth-largest in the world in remittances from overseas workers based on World Bank's yearly data. The country recorded more than $40 billion in overseas Filipino workers (OFW) remittances per year, both from the banking system and outside the banking system. It also ranks second in the world in terms of business process outsourcing (BPO), second only to India, and has been growing, he added. Citing the latest BPO data from last year, Ricafort said the Philippines posted more than $32.5 billion in earnings. Other records show it is around $35 billion. Both account for about 8 to 9 percent of the economy.