Yearender: We’ve done well: Palace touts economic success under Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine economy performed well in 2023 despite lingering external challenges, due largely to the administration’s business-friendly measures and continued public spending as well as President Marcos’ active promotion of the country as an attractive investment destination in his foreign trips, according to the government.

This year alone, the President embarked on 12 foreign trips, which the government said generated at least P757.33 billion in foreign investment approvals from January to October, which are expected to create thousands of jobs.

The country is one of the best performing economies among Southeast Asian nations, according to Marcos’ economic managers, posting a gross domestic product growth of 5.9 percent in the third quarter, outpacing its neighbors in Asia such as Vietnam (5.3 percent), Indonesia and China (4.9 percent), Malaysia (3.3 percent) and Singapore (0.7 percent).

“2023? We have done well. Given the circumstances, that’s a very challenging year to say the least. The world market was far more challenging than initially expected, say, at this time last year,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said at a recent Palace briefing when asked about the economy’s status this year.

“We have done well because if you look at the way we have performed in relation to those many other countries, we have remained among the top performers – economic performers in Asia,” he said, noting that this came despite multilateral agencies’ downgraded forecast for practically every country.

The Philippines remained the best performer in Southeast Asia, the chief of the National Economic and Development Authority said, citing a Dec. 13 report of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank.

Balisacan and Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno expressed optimism on the country’s capability to post a full-year economic growth close to the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC)’s growth assumptions of six to seven percent for 2023 with easing inflation, strong labor market conditions and robust consumer spending, especially during the holiday season.

“I’m still hoping that we get at least the six percent but even if we miss