Phl has the money to thrive amid wars in Ukraine and Gaza

As mankind winds down the first quarter of the 21st century, the world is suddenly in the grip of two large regional wars –Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Hamas. Both have the unpredictable potential of flaring into larger wars, including the possibility of a limited nuclear war, if there is such a thing.

Will the Philippines be affected? Well, not as hard or as deep as our neighbors in ASEAN are.

Singapore exports are 184 percent of its GDP or the value of its annual economic production; its imports are 184 percent of GDP. Vietnam exports are 93.18 percent of its GDP, down from 105.8 percent in 2021; while imports are 93 percent. Malaysia exports are 73.84 percent of GDP and imports 61.73 percent. Thailand exports are 58 percent of its GDP and imports, 58.6 percent.

Indonesia’s exports are only 21.41 percent of its GDP while its imports just 18.79 percent.

Philippine exports are 27.6 percent of its GDP while imports are 39.7 percent. The economy is not as heavily dependent on foreign trade as our ASEAN neighbors’ are.

Outside of humans, our OFWs or expats, our biggest exports, we don’t really sell anything much to the world. Yes, over a third of our economy is dependent on the world for importations. But many of those importations are sourced nearby (like China, Japan and our ASEAN neighbors) or we can produce ourself. Like food.

At the same time, in terms of consumption, households account for 72 percent of economic production (GDP) by expenditure. Government expenditures are 15.4 percent, for a total of 87.4 percent. For every P100 of economic production, P87.40 is domestic consumption. Our economy is run by domestic spending.

Also, Philippine income from abroad is only 9 percent of GDP.

So the world might be in turmoil yet Filipinos can still say, bravely, it’s more fun in the Philippines.

To better enjoy the fun, one thing should be done, however: Boost our small and medium enterprises (SMEs). There are one million of them, 99 percent of all corporations. Two things:

One, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) should order the more than 1,500 LGUs (local government units, the towns, cities and provinces) to approve business permits in ten