mata02 @ batu23 Economy ‘promising’ amid headwinds
THE Philippine economy remains “very promising” in 2025, despite headwinds that include external uncertainties in the Middle East and the United States, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
In an interview, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told BusinessMirror that the “world is watching,” particularly on how true Donald Trump will be to his campaign promises of raising tariff rates.
Balisacan also said “lingering problems” in the Middle East as well as the Russia-Ukraine war and their impact on the global economy are enough reasons to convince the economic team to monitor these developments.
“I think [the Philippine economy is] very promising,” Balisacan told this newspaper. “Opportunities abound despite the challenges next year [2025].”
On Trump, Balisacan said when campaigning, all politicians will make promises just to get the most votes and win the elections. But when they win, he said, it becomes a more complicated matter.
Balisacan said these politicians will realize that there is a need to perform balancing acts to reconcile “conflicting” interests to “move the economy” forward.
“It’s not just your political survival but you’re now running a country with all these kinds of conflicting interests. And so you are in a business where you try to do balancing, which you don’t do when you’re in a political campaign,” Balisacan explained.
On the Middle East as well as Europe, Balisacan said, these problems are not diminishing and have, to some extent, widened in scope, involving more countries.
With this, Balisacan sees a higher chance that the impact would be far wider and could eventually spillover to the global economy.
Seeing that the Philippines trade relations extends to beyond the region, the economy could also experience some of these spillovers. “Those are the ones that can be more threatening to the global economy. And whether we like it or not, we are part of that,” Balisacan told BusinessMirror.
“But while we are tired of resiliency, I think that what I want to see is not resilience, it’s really the diversifying economy, as I keep saying,” he also said.
