Booming Philippines?

It is so rare to read anything positive about the Philippines in the world's media that it seems churlish to complain. Still, I did think the FT took Romulo Neri's upbeat comments a wee bit too much at face value in its very positive article on the Philippines last week. The question of whether mining is really the way for the country to go is a big, big environmental question that was not addressed at all.

I don't know about the rest of you who live here, but I do think that the economy is picking up a little. The construction industry is always a bellwether for the rest of the economy and I reckon there are more construction sites in Manila now than at any other time in the seven and a half years I have lived here. Capitalism is notoriously cyclical and even the Philippines can't stay at the bottom for ever, so I guess a recovery of sorts is overdue. Who will benefit from this boomlet is another matter entirely of course.

The FT article is subscription only I am afraid, but here are some extracts:

The Philippine economy has been growing at its fastest for more than a decade and is looking forward to further rapid expansion this year in spite of a global economic slowdown and rising domestic inflation.

Romulo Neri, the economic planning secretary, said gross domestic product was forecast to grow by as much as 6.3 per cent this year, largely due to the expected inflow of foreign investment into mining projects and government plans to increase infrastructure spending.

Citing the latest estimates, he said the economy probably grew by 6.2 per cent last year, the highest in 15 years, on bumper farm output and rising exports. The official 2004 figures will be released on Monday.
Several Chinese companies pledged last week to invest at least $1.3bn (€998m, £690m) in Philippine mining ventures. A Philippine trade delegation said it had won commitments to gold, copper and other mining projects.

Foreign investment in mining was opened up in December when the Supreme Court upheld a 1995 law allowing foreign companies to control up to 100 per cent of big mining projects.
…
Investors seem to have agreed with Mr Neri. This week Philippine shares hit five-year highs while the peso climbed to its highest in eight months even after Standard & Poor's cut the country's credit rating.
Manila sold $1.5bn worth of 25-year global bonds yesterday, up from the original offer of $1bn because of strong demand. Analysts said the bond was oversubscribed partly because the risk spreads were much higher compared with the last bond issued.