ALBAY Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said Filipinos have good reasons to be optimistic based on the “significant positive gains” registered by the national economy during the first six months of the Duterte administration.
Identifying the positive economic events of 2016 under the imcumbent administration, the noted economist has included in his list the government’s commitment to deploy funds, with an 83-percent increase in infrastructure spending and improved absorptive capacity.
Salceda said this thrust could drive the Philippines’s GDP to 9 percent in three years, with Duterte’s policy strengths and a blueprint for growth hinged largely
on infrastructure.
“This could usher in a golden age of infrastructure,” he noted during the recent Global Investment Forum in Makati City.
Based on economic forecast models developed by a group of econometricians, Salceda said the country can hit a 9-percent GDP growth by 2019, with “infrastructure spending from 5 percent to 6 percent of GDP, funded by new taxes and tax efficiencies.”
During the May 2016 presidential election, the former Davao City mayor vowed to bring progress to all Filipinos, to eliminate government corruption and to substantially reduce crimes, especially the use of illegal drugs.
Barely six months in the office, Duterte has been actively working out with significant successes on his 10-point socio-economic agenda, which includes the current macroeconomic policies, tax reform; competitiveness and ease of doing business; infrastructure spending; rural and value-chain development; security of land tenure; human capital development; Science, technolog, and creative arts; social protection programs; and responsible parenthood and Reproductive Health Law.
Recently, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) commended the new administration and offered greater financial assistance to show strong support to the agenda.
With this, the Philippine property sector is expected to grow in the next six years, as economic indicators have shown that the country has solid macroeconomic fundamentals.
No less than the ADB and the World Bank have been reminding this sector that it is going to continue to grow.
In its September 2016 outlook, the ADB upgraded its growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.4 percent from 6 percent in its earlier study. Furthermore, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported in its August 2016 update that the country’s GDP grew by 7 percent during the second quarter of 2016.
Giant property developers agreed that 2018 will be a landmark year for the property sector, as majority of the projects in the major business districts are going to be completed.
Bonifacio Global City, Bay Area, Filinvest City and Arca South continue to be the projects to watch, because of their huge impact to the property sector and the country’s economy. Likewise, dramatic changes will be felt in the next six years, especially on Ayala’s Arca South and Gotianun’s Filinvest once the infrastructure projects, such as the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, in Alabang will be completed
Makati, Ortigas and Bonifacio Global City, the country’s three major commercial business districts (CBD), will continue to grow with their array of projects in the pipeline. In Makati City, the Makati CBD, Century City, Rockwell and Circuit Makati are currently implementing their development projects. In the Ortigas area: the Ortigas CBD, Rockwell Business Center, Arcovia City, Silver City and Capital Commons are continuing to develop their respective projects.
In BGC, construction is on a high level in Bonifacio Global City, McKinley West, McKinleyHill, Uptown and Veritown.
The business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry is also on the growth path. The Information Technology Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) plans to double its work force to 2.6 million, from the current 1.3 million, in the next six years.
The property sector can handle the office-space requirements of the sector. At present, there are 46 business parks in Metro Manila’s cities, such as Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, San Juan, Taguig, Las Piñas, Pasay, Parañaque and Manila. And, in response to the call of inclusive growth, more than 180 information-technology parks and business districts have been built in Laoag, Cagayan, Baguio, Tarlac, Bulacan, Urdaneta, Pampanga, Aklan, Iloilo, Bacolod and Dumaguete.
The Philippines has registered fastest economic growth in Asia and the resurgence of the country’s manufacturing industry. The country posted a 7.1 percent on-year July-September hike—its most robust growth pace in three years, Salceda noted.
The figure surpassed the 6.7-percent median growth estimate of 15 economists survey by Bloomberg, and matched an estimated 1.2-percent GDP rise against the previous quarter. It also stacked favorably against China’s third-quarter growth rate of 6.7 percent and Vietnam’s 6.4 percent.
In the pipeline is the rollout of “AmBisyon Natin 2040,” the Duterte administration’s 10-point economic agenda and the preparation of 2017-2022 development plan.
“AmBisyon 2040 represents the collective long-term vision and aspirations of the Filipino people for themselves and for the country in the next 25 years. It describes the kind of life Filipinos want to live, and how the country will be by 2040,” Salceda said.