Philippine Newspaper

Business and Market Overview on Philippines
By Khal Mastan

ECONOMY. Philippines's economy suffered through mismanagement under the country's late president Marcos who ruled the country under martial law from the 1960s to 1980s. To revive the country's economy, former president Fidel Ramos opened the country to foreign investments in the early 1990s. During Ramos' term in office, foreign investments increased from only US$42 million in 1992 to US$2 billion by 1997. The Philippines weathered the Asian economic crisis of 1997 in much better shape than many other Southeast Asian countries due to the large number of Filipino overseas workers regularly remitting money into the country and low external debt.

Philippines’ GDP was US$85.1 billion with a GDP per capita of US$1,042 in 2004. The economy of the Philippines grew at annual GDP growth averaging 4.6% from 2000 to 2004 contributed mainly by growth in the service sector, agriculture and exports of electronics. Inflation declined from 6.5% in 2000 to 2.5% in 2002 but trended upwards to reach 8.6% by 2004. Unemployment remains relatively high compared to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore ranging between 9.8% and 10.9% from 2000 to 2004.

The service sector contributes to half or 52.8% of the Philippines’ GDP in 2004 while manufacturing contributed 31.8% and agriculture 15.3%. Major industries include electronics, garments, footwear, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products, processed foods, petroleum refining and fishing. Major agriculture products include sugarcane, coconuts, rice, corn, bananas, cassavas, pineapples, mangoes and seafood.

DEMOGRAPHY. The Philippines comprises of nearly 7,100 islands but eleven islands account for 90% of the country's total population. Main islands are Luzon and Mindanao accounting for 65% of the population. Other major but less populated islands include Negros, Samar, Panay and Palawan. Filipino society and culture is nearly homogeneous and 90% of the population are of the Malay descent. Other ethnic groups include the various indigenous tribes and Chinese immigrants. Spanish-Mexican culture brought by the former Spanish colonial rulers who ruled the country from Mexico has an influence of Filipino culture. The country is predominantly Catholic accounting for 81% of the population followed by various Christian denominations (11%) and Islam (5%). Tagalog is the national language and widely spoken across the islands while English is predominantly used in government and business.