Austrian newspaper cites resilience of RP economy
Yes indeed. Our economy seems strong enough to survive the crisis that plagued the United States and Europe and other strong economies in Asia. Some say the tidal wave of that economic recession has yet to reach the Philippines and may be felt only later this year or in 2010. Me thinks that gives us time to prepare for a possible crisis and minimize its impact if ever it finally hits us, unlike during the 1997 Asian financial crisis when our economy was caught by surprise and hence suffered.
What keeps our economy afloat is the people's willingness to spend. Even if most Filipinos have limited capacity for earnings, we still spend so much because it is not in our culture to sacrifice present needs and wants for future stability. We don't mind if we spend our last centavo for a party today even if there is no guaranteed meal for the next day. We don't mind borrowing money to spend on a luxury now even if we pay for it dearly in the future. While this does not make good economic sense, at least we do not sleep on our money. This attitude is most favorable to business.
While we can brag about the state of our economy right now, still we can't compare our economy with that of our rich and better neighbors. Japan or Singapore deep in recession is probably a version of the Philippines with average economic growth. Our economy may not be suffering, but it's not gaining much either. It is mediocre, to say the least. Of course we know why our economy cannot really take off - poor governance, political and social instability, lack of discipline, backward mentality, etc.
Our attitude reflects what kind of future we will have. We are happy to survive today. We'll just keep our fingers crossed for what tomorrow will bring.
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