Standard and Poor raise Philippine Credit Rating

 Rating agency Standard and Poor has raised the Philippine long term debt rating to BB+ from BB. This is the highest rating since 2003. At a time when many countries are receiving lower ratings no doubt President Benigno Aquino is quite happy. In time Aquino hopes the rating will go up one more notch to investment grade.



   A Singapore based S and P analyst said::“The rating action also reflects the country’s strengthening external position, with remittances and an expanding service export sector continuing to drive current- account surpluses.” Aquino intends to spend 16 billion U.S. on roads, bridges, and airports this year so the investment upgrade will help lower borrowing costs.

  The Philippine peso has been strengthening against the U.S. doing the best of 11 major Asian currencies.Moody's has also rated Philippines positively in May. The Philippine economy grew 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Aquino wants to speed up growth to as much as 8 per cent year to help decrease poverty. For more see this article.

Philippine Peso Up Against U.S. Dollar

   Philippine currency the Philippine peso rose .2  per cent against the U.S. dollar from Dec. 29 to closing on the 30th of December. The peso ended at 43.76 to the U.S. dollar.
   During the holidays remittances from Filipinos working overseas increase and this is probably what has caused the rise in the peso. The central bank is considering an interest rate cut as as global growth slows and will also slow growth in exports.
   The Treasury Bureau is auctioning off 206 million(U.S.) in 5 per cent bonds that will mature in August 1918. The government is intending to sell further securities in the first quarter of  this year. Yield on 7.375 per cent bonds has increased over the last few days of trading in the year. For more see this article.

Philippines: Govt. stealthily implements Agricultural agreement.

This is typical government behavior. Doing things behind the scenes that have important implications for constituents in this case farmers while not keeping them informed or able to have time to fight back. This agreement cannot be enforced according to the constitution unless approved by the senate. Not only will this move hurt farmers but it will cut down on govt. revenues as well just at a time when the govt. needs money to deal with the costs of the recent calamites from typhoons.

Senate to grill Favila on sneaky trade accord
By Angie M. Rosales
10/23/2009
The Senate will summon Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila next week to seek his explanation over what senators saw as a stealthy implementation of an international agreement that will allow imported farm products into the country tax-free to the detriment of local agricultural products.
Sen. Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture, pointed out that the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga), which was supposed to take effect on Jan. 1 next year, may not be legally enforced as senators have yet to concur with the accord, as required by the Constitution.
She cited a constitutional provision which states, in part, that no treaty or international agreement shall be valid unless concurred in by two-thirds vote of the Senate. “If it (Atiga) is an international agreement, why was it not submitted to the Senate,” she asked. “The Senate was kept in the dark,” she added.
At an impromptu press conference, Legarda told reporters that she had received information that Favila signed the Atiga in Bangkok, Thailand last Feb. 26 but that it was “intentionally kept from the public.”
She said the Atiga, reportedly part of the Asean Free Trade Agreement, was initially set to take effect in 2015 but the new tariff schedule was accelerated to 2010. It was touted to be an accord that would allow free-flow of goods among Asean countries but Legarda voiced fears it would open the floodgates and allow cheap products into the country without paying duties and taxes.
Aside from the Philippines, among the other signatories to the accord were Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Vietnam.
Legarda learned, however, that Indonesia has requested for a two-year grace before implementing the accord and she suggested that the Philippines should ask for a similar deferment.
She warned that the Atiga will in effect waive billions of pesos in revenues from duties and taxes at a time when the country is hard put looking for additional sources of funds to deal with the calamity caused by recent typhoons.
“We are foregoing revenues while we are begging for aid from foreign donors,” she said.
Legarda is concerned that the tariff accord would also kill the livelihood of farmers and other local food producers because the government failed to provide safety nets for them in anticipation of the effectivity of the agreement.
“I am alarmed so I am appealing to the government to seek its deferment for humanitarian reasons,” she said. “Why are we in a hurry when this will adversely affect our people?”
In a separate letter to President Arroyo, the Federation of Philippine Industries Inc. also voiced misgivings about the impact to businesses of the Atiga. FPII warned that businesses will close down as a result of it contributing to unemployment.

Philippines to sell a half billion dollars in global bonds..

As the Philippine economy slows down tax revenue has been declining so that the deficit will be larger even a record although still not that bad in relationship to GDP. The government may even issue 500 million more bonds later.

This is from Forbes.

-Philippines to sell $500 million global bond soon.
MANILA, July 10 (Reuters) - The Philippines plans to sell $500 million of dollar or euro bonds soon to plug a record budget deficit and to relieve pressure on domestic markets from rising borrowing needs.
The central bank approved on Friday the government's request to issue as much as $1 billion in global bonds, suggesting more issuance could come later this year.
'I think the idea is just come up with $500 million. It is most likely dollars (bonds),' National Treasurer Roberto Tan told Reuters.
The government raised its total borrowing needs by $1 billion this year after it slashed its revenue target by almost the same amount due to a slowing economy.
Manila also has obtained a guarantee from a Japanese state bank for up to $1 billion in Samurai bonds but Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said on Wednesday a global issue could be a cheaper option unless the bank agrees to reduce a guarantee fee on the planned yen bond offer.
Rosalia de Leon, head of the Department of Finance's International Finance Group, said on Friday Manila is still awaiting word from the bank.
Philippine peso bond yields, which were little changed on Friday, may fall next week following the government's announcement it would likely pick underwriters for the global bond sale soon, traders said. The announcement was made a few minutes before the local bond market closed.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves had previously said the increase in additional borrowings would be shared between local and foreign debt.
.............................

Fudging figures in the Philippines

This is from Asia Times. No doubt the Arroyo govt. can be credited with greater sins than spinning economic data but this article at least gives a less rosy picture of the Philippine economy so that we can have a more balanced view of the situation.




Southeast Asia
Apr 25, 2009

Fudging figures in the Philippines
By Joel D Adriano
MANILA - The Philippine Labor Department has said that unemployment concerns are easing and that the government is now more vigorously tracking job gains rather than losses. This despite the fact the Philippine economy has slowed amid the global economic crisis, with export, foreign investment and corporate profit statistics all down. The Labor Department reported broadly that only 121,000 workers lost their jobs, suffered pay cuts or had their working hours reduced between October last year to mid-March this year. Officials have presented those numbers as positive news, considering they had earlier projected between 180,000 to 300,000 workers would lose their jobs by the end of the first quarter. The electronics and semiconductor sectors, which account for

nearly half of the country's export revenues, were expected to hemorrhage the most jobs. Some argue the government is obscuring the hard unemployment reality by dispensing vague measures. An April 2007 labor survey showed the manufacturing sector had lost 105,000 jobs from the same month the previous year, as global orders for computers and electronics started to collapse. Buoyed by the better-than-projected official statistics, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has now predicted that unemployment will not breach the double-digit threshold this year. Recent government figures show that the unemployment rate hit 7.7% in January, equivalent to around 2.9 million jobless workers, and up from the 6.8% recorded in October of last year. The official optimism comes despite growing private economist concerns of an inrush home of overseas foreign workers (OFWs) who have lost their jobs amid the global recession. The government predicts gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slow to between 3.1%-4.1% this year, down from last year's 4.6% and well off the 7.3% recorded in 2007. The International Monetary Fund is much more pessimistic, predicting Philippine growth will be flat this year, down from its previous 2.25% prediction. Critics say the government's official measures purposefully understate what is a mounting economic problem and potentially volatile political one. That's particularly true of unemployment statistics due to Arroyo's controversial decision to change the official definition over four years ago when unemployment was hovering near double digits. The old definition of "those not working and at the same time looking for work" was changed in favor of a vague "availability of work" concept, which excluded frustrated jobseekers or those who had given up hope of finding employment after searching unsuccessfully for a certain time period. The new definition also added unpaid family labor to the number of employed as part of the distortion, said Elmer Labog of the activist labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno. According to the Social Weather Station (SWS), a private survey research firm, if the old definition were still applied, the actual unemployment rate could be as high as one-third of the total labor force. The SWS estimated that the real unemployment rate was 27.9%, representing over 10 million jobless Filipinos. The Ibon Foundation think-tank put the end-of-year figure at 4.1 million unemployed Filipinos, which was still almost 50% higher than the official rate. Both those higher figures correspond with anecdotal evidence of mounting job losses in depressed urban areas and the rural countryside, where the majority of Filipino workers still live. Even with the government's more optimistic figures, the Philippines' unemployment rate is the second-highest among core Association of Southeast Asian Nation member countries, trailing only Indonesia's 8.4%. The end of year unemployment rates in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia were 1.4%, 2.6% and 3.3% respectively. The Philippines is also known to have a stubbornly high underemployment rate. According to a recent World Bank study, more than 60% of Filipino workers are employed in low-paid agriculture, fishing, domestic and service work sectors, many of whom are family laborers or non-wage earners. The industrial sector, where job losses are mounting as foreign investors shutter their Philippine operations, accounts for just 15% of the work force and most laborers work on a contractual basis, offering little job security or social safety net benefits, according to the World Bank. The lack of job security, some say, explains why mounting job losses have so far not resulted in more social unrest - although government concerns of unrest could explain its alleged understatement of unemployment figures. Stop-gap measuresArroyo's government has reacted to the economic slowdown by intensifying official efforts to place more Filipino workers overseas, despite the diminishing opportunities amid the rising global economic crisis. With the US and much of Europe in recession, the government is hoping to land more jobs in the Middle East. In that direction, Arroyo is also looking into lifting her government's five-year-old ban on sending workers to Iraq. The Philippines is already a top global source of skilled and unskilled migrant workers, with estimates as high as 12 million, including undocumented Filipino workers employed in over 200 foreign countries. That represents nearly 15% of the total Philippine population and their foreign currency-denominated remittances have been crucial to keeping the local economy afloat. Overseas workers sent home some US$16.4 billion last year, representing nearly one-fifth of GDP and a crucial driver of domestic consumption. Foreign remittances slipped slightly from 1.4 billion pesos in December to 1.26 billion in January, according to most recent official statistics. The World Bank has conservatively predicted a 4% decline in remittances this year, in line with expected migrant job losses overseas. Administration officials contend they have taken big steps to boost local employment and economic activity, including measures in a $2 billion fiscal stimulus package. That included a $2 million earmark for the temporary hiring of 180,000 workers, though the program is scheduled to wind down later this year. Arroyo has also called on local governments to set aside 1.5% of their budgets to create jobs. Critics argue that many of those schemes have been poorly planned, including instructions from the Department of Trade and Industry to one local government to hire people in its municipality to gather scrub plants and convert them into useful products without indicating how to structure or market the grassroots enterprises. "The government is missing on a great deal of opportunity to come up with something and make the best of the crisis," said one local official who declined to be named. "Instead, funds are wasted on activities and job placements that are hardly productive and are simply meant to justify their salaries." Economists note that ramped up spending is putting extraordinary pressures on the national budget and bond yields. The government turned in a $1 billion deficit in March, its largest-ever one-month shortfall. The overall first quarter deficit was nearly $2.4 billion, a full $2 million over target, and has raised concerns the government will need international capital markets to finance the shortfall. The government raised $1.5 billion in a sovereign bond issue in January. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto has predicted that the country's budget deficit could reach $5.3 billion if tax collections fell short of target and the government failed to raise revenues through asset sales. Privatization proceeds last year, including from the sale of the government's remaining 40% share in oil giant Petron Corp, helped raise non-tax revenue by 35%. This year, officials hope to raise some $1 billion from the sale of government shares in power distribution firm Meralco to the local San Miguel Corp, the biggest food conglomerate in Southeast Asia. The company's chairman, Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, has pledged to help with the government's job-generation drive by hiring more local workers. But it's not clear to most that will have any meaningful impact on the Philippines' rising and largely understated unemployment problem. Joel D Adriano is an independent consultant and award-winning freelance journalist. He was a sub-editor for the business section of The Manila Times and writes for ASEAN BizTimes, Safe Democracy and People's Tonight.

Philippine Recession 'bottoming out''

This is from the Manila Standard.

The concept of a recession is obviously relative. The Philippines has experienced a slowdown rather than a recession in the sense of negative growth in the economy. Even so, with the global decline the Philippines will be experiencing a decline in foreign remittances which is very important for the economy.

Recession’ bottoming out
By Roderick T. dela Cruz
The economic slowdown in the Philippines has started to bottom out and growth will pick up in the third quarter of the year as the impact of the world financial crisis on the country subsides, Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said yesterday.
“We are seeing a bottoming out of the crisis,” said Recto, who is also director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority.
He said the first quarter growth would be the poorest this year and that higher numbers were expected by the third quarter.
Neda said the economy likely grew 2.1 percent to 3.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009, the period that bore the brunt of the global economic downturn.
Recto, speaking at the sidelines of the launch of the Millennium Development Goals Fund Joint Program on Democratic Economic Governance at Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati City, said growth was expected to pick up in the coming quarters. The National Statistical Coordination Board will release the official growth figures for the first quarter in the third week of May.
Recto said the preliminary growth estimate in the first quarter was based on the poor performance of exports and job losses reported during the period.
Merchandise exports fell 40 percent in January and 39 percent in February, as global demand for electronics and garments tumbled amid the lingering financial crisis.
Recto said some 100,000 Filipino workers were also affected by the crisis in the first quarter, with about half losing their jobs because of company closures or retrenchment.
But Recto said the Philippine economy was one of the only few countries that were expected to grow positively, along with China, Indonesia and Brazil.
He said growth would be supported by consumer spending, which rose by an average of 4.5 percent over the past decades. Personal consumption expenditures account for about two-thirds of the GDP in the Philippines.
Recto said he was optimistic the Philippines would achieve its growth target this year as long as remittances continued to grow at the present pace and inflation remained manageable.
He added interest rates had been easing in support of economic expansion.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee earlier said the GDP was expected to grow within a range of 3.1 percent to 4.1 percent in 2009, from a 4.6 percent actual expansion in 2008.
Fitch Ratings, meanwhile, lowered its economic growth forecast for the Philippines this year, saying the global recession would lead to a decline in exports and remittances from Filipino workers overseas.

Philippines mulls pump priming fund for economy

The entire article can be found at malaya.
It seems that more and more countries are developing pump priming programs. It seems that the US probably already has slipped into recession. The stock markets today seem to be anticipating a global recession and much less demand for oil. The US dollar remains quite strong for reasons I really don't fathom. Apparently investors see it as a refuge. I would think that is like taking refuge by booking on the Titanic.

P100B gov’t-privateshield fund mulledPackage seen priming economy
BY IRMA ISIP
THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) yesterday pushed for the creation of a P100 billion fund to shield the country in case the United States slips into recession, a plan supported by President Arroyo.
In her keynote speech at the conclusion of the 34th Philippine Business Conference at the Manila Hotel, Arroyo said she welcomes the proposal where government and private banks would contribute P50 billion each to finance projects for "human capital formation" that would address basic services to the poor including education, health, agriculture and infrastructure.
"We hope the private banking sector will join in this," she said.

Strong spending by government boosts Philiippine economy

This is from the Financial Times. No doubt there will be somewhat of a slowdown this year especially with a higher peso. Exports will be more expensive and demand may be lower from countries such as the U.S. The higher dollar will also mean that when expatriates send remittances back home in U.S. dollars they will buy fewer pesos. Even so, growth looks not to be all that bad, certainly no depression. Perhaps Arroyo's continuing rule is depressing enough ;).

Strong spending by Manila boosts economy
By Roel Landingin in Manila
Published: February 1 2008 02:00 Last updated: February 1 2008 02:00
The Philippine economy grew at an annual rate of 7.3 per cent last year, recording its biggest expansion in 31 years thanks to stronger consumer and government spending.
But yesterday's gross domestic product data came as the country's central bank cut its main lending rate by 25 basis points to pre-empt the expected drag on the economy of a slowdown in the US.
Almost a fifth of Philippine exports go to the US, its biggest trading partner.
Last year's better than expected growth came as higher revenues from taxes allowed the Manila government to increase outlays for public works by almost a third.
Private-sector investments in construction and durable equipment also grew while personal consumption rose, buoyed by remittances from overseas Filipinos and falling unemployment.
Government planners, however, expect growth to ease this year to 6.3-7 per cent.
Margarito Teves, the finance secretary, said yesterday that the Philippines depended less on the US economy than it used to.
"The latest indications are that there is increasing decoupling between the Philippine and US," Mr Teves told the Financial Times.
But he said the government was nonetheless preparing a stimulus package to lessen the impact of a US downturn. This will include a ramping up in infrastructure spending and cash grants to extremely poor households.
The government is also planning to spend 60 per cent of its infrastructure budget for this year in the first four months.
Jose Salceda, an adviser to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, earlier this week proposed a stimulus plan that would also see the government slash income taxes. But Mr Teves said that plan had been turned down because "we didn't want to weaken our revenue effort as that will hurt our ability to spend later"
He also said the government was still sticking to its plan to achieve a balanced budget this year, ending a decade of fiscal shortfalls.
Government economists have said that a 1 per cent decline in US economic growth will translate into a 1.9 percentage point cut in Philippine growth.
However, more recent estimates from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund showed that the adverse impact was much less, at only 0.2-0.9 per cent, Mr Teves said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Philippines exports weaker because of high dollar, energy prices

This is from the Inquirer. With inputs being very high priced Philippine exports are bound to be less competitive. With the dollar weaker, prices of Philippine products in U.S. markets will be higher. However, other currencies are also much higher so this may partly compensate. At least Philippine consumers will enjoy lower prices for products imported from the U.S.

2008 exports seen weaker on US concerns, high energy prices
Thomson FinancialFirst Posted 17:26:00 01/29/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Merchandise exports growth this year is likely to be weaker on a further slowdown in the US economy, high energy prices and the continued strengthening of the peso, an industry leader said Tuesday.
"Exports contributed very little to national economic growth last year, and we are seeing very little growth, if any for 2008," Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation or Philexport said at an energy summit here.
In the first 11 months of last year, exports rose just 4.8 percent from a year before. The reduced target for the whole year is 8.0 percent.
Electronics exports, which accounted for 61.3 percent of total export earnings in November, fell to $2.42 billion from $2.54 billion a year earlier.
The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines or SEIPI said it is also bracing for a difficult year.
"We are anticipating demand to be weak in the first half of the year. We are just hoping that growth will, at best, be flat and won't get any worse or be negative," said SEIPI executive director Ernesto Santiago.
With exports last year weighed down by "a triple whammy of high electric rates, historic oil prices and a strong peso, nine percent of the country's exporters closed shop last year," said Luis of Philexport.
"While a recession in the US will be a drag on exports in the short-term, it is the high cost of power, triggered by a surge in crude oil prices, that has drastically eroded the viability of the exports sector," said Luis.
Electricity expenses make up about 15 percent of production costs of export manufacturing enterprises in the Philippines.
World oil prices were slightly higher Tuesday in Asian trade, hovering near $90 in a market focused on the fate of the US economy.
Luis said the Philippines has one of the highest electricity rates in Asia, next only to Japan.
The country's two biggest groups of exporters have been urging the Philippine government to take more concrete steps to make electricity prices more competitive.
"We hope that the government can seriously consider the exporter's plight. There is a need to address the issues of electric power quality and security, in addition to developing and tapping alternative or renewable energy sources," said Luis.
($1 = P40.69)

Philippines can weather effects of US recession

This is from the Inquirer.
In spite of the political turmoil such as it is, the Philippine economy seems to be growing at a reasonable rate. However the worst off may not be much if any better off as a result and with the costs of fuel and other imported items going up life must be quite difficult for many.

Teves: Philippines can weather effects of US recession


By Michelle Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:41:00 01/22/2008

Teves: Philippines can weather effects of US recession
(

MANILA, Philippines--Calming fears on effects of a possible US recession on the local economy, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the Philippines could weather a volatile external environment.

“While a possible slowdown or recession in the US economy could dampen the growth of emerging markets, the Philippines will likely withstand the adverse effects of such a development largely because of its improving economic fundamentals,” Teves said.

He said a better fiscal environment due to a shrinking budget deficit has been gradually placing the Philippines back on the radar screen of foreign investors.

Higher government spending resulting from improved revenue collection also boosted economic growth and offset the ill-effects of external factors, such as lower demand for the country’s exports products. Increase in public spending on infrastructure was credited as one of the country’s major growth drivers last year.

The economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew 7.1 percent in the first three quarters of 2007. This kept the economy on track to surpass the official economic growth target of 6.1-6.7 percent last year.

But some feared the Philippines robust growth last year might not be sustained because of the looming recession of the United States, the country’s biggest export market. A US recession is feared to impact on the export sector and drag down the growth of the domestic economy.

But Teves said that while the United States was still the Philippines’ biggest export destination, its share to total earnings of Filipino exporters have dwindled over the years.

From a high of 28 percent seven years ago, the share of the United States’ demand to total export income of the Philippines has shrunk to less than 20 percent, Teves said, noting that exporters have been diversifying their markets.

Analysts also feared that a possible US recession would adversely affect the Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, one of the fastest growing sectors of the local economy catering mainly to US-based clients.

Teves said that while some BPO firms might engage in cost-cutting measures, this did not pose much threat to the Philippines. BPO companies wanting to cut cost actually come to the Philippines because labor is more affordable here.

Low interest rates, also a result of a reduced budget deficit, could also encourage more businesses to pursue expansion plans.

“By continuing to identify and follow through on the appropriate fiscal policies for the country, we hope to underpin the growing strength of the Philippine economy, and to support the critical programs that will alleviate poverty,” Teves said.

Teves said the Philippine government should not be significantly affected by a tightening credit market due to a US recession because it could reduce foreign borrowings and shift credit demand toward domestic sources.

He said 70 percent of the government’s financing requirements would be borrowed locally.

Asian Development Bank on Philippine Economy

This is from the Tribune a left leaning Manila daily. It is surprising that the article says nothing about income distribution. This is surely as important as economic growth especially for leftists one would think. The Tribune is consistently anti-Arroyo.


In Gloria’s fantasy world


EDITORIAL


08/05/2007

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had a lot to say lately about reality and fantasy.

The ADB study came out immediately after that earth-shaking Gloria hype in the State of the Nation Address about the Philippines joining the ranks of industrialized countries in 20 years.

Just as it is fantastic, incredible and unbelievable, Gloria had chosen the line as her signature cry, which is typically Gloria — an overdose of spin and empty in substance.

The report stated that at the rate the country is growing, at an average of less than five percent each year, it would take 77 years to reach the economic status of Brunei Darrusalam today.

Brunei has the highest per capita income in Asia, which is not even considered First World in the Western definition and even if the local economy grows at the scorching pace of China, it would still take 25 years for the country to approximate First World development.

The country’s per capita income, or the average that a Filipino earns each year or an equivalent of 16,663 Hong Kong dollars is sandwiched between those of Indonesia, which has a higher per capita income of HK$18,427 and Mongolia, $15,104.

Among the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the country’s per capita income is only higher than those of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Thailand, which used to be a country that has an economy equal to that of the Philippines, had sailed far ahead with a per capita income of HK$39,086.

On ADB’s study on gross fixed capital formation, which mainly measures investments in infrastructure, the ADB says, this provides a gauge on the potential for future growth of the country. The Philippines is 18th of 22 countries in the ADB study with a per capita real gross fixed capital formation of HK$1,914, which is the amount, averaged per person, spent mainly by the government for roads, bridges and electricity network and other services each year.

At an exchange rate of about P7 per HK$1, spending for infrastructure in the country is about P14,000 per person a year, which is what is being spent in exchange for the ever-rising direct and indirect taxes paid by Filipinos each year.

The Philippines, by this measure, was far below the level for even the potential of a decent economic development in the region.

The country has a bigger capital formation only compared to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia, and is even outstripped in such investments by Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia and Laos.

The ADB’s released study seems to have been made to slap Gloria back into reality.

The Philippines is barely moving, economically, during her term. Just last week, traders said they would be struggling to meet an exports target of 11 percent for the entire year due to the slowdown in the US economy and the appreciated value of the peso, which had pushed up the dollar price of local commodities for exports.

The only strong sectors of the economy are services that include the call center business and telecommunications, and shopping malls which are being mainly fed by transfers from Filipinos working abroad.

Gloria’s repeated chanting of a First World status in 20 years either shows that she is living in a world of her own or that she is not serious in putting the country into a true development path or both.

Sticking to an obvious fantasy in supposedly showing her determination produces a negative effect on Filipinos rather than inspiring them to greater heights.

Gloria could care less. Her world says the Philippines is well and good even if the entire country is reeling in despondency over the worsening economic and social condition.

First World in 20 years?

Everything is possible in Gloria’s fantasy world.