PHILIPPINES NOT PREPARED FOR ASEAN INTEGRATION?
Comparative economic and other data PHL vis-a-vis its Asean neighbors.
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Citing various sources such as the United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Asean Statistical Yearbook 2008, 2010, and UN Statistics Division, the article showed where the Philippines stands compared to its Asean neighbors in terms of macroeconomic indicators.
It said that from 2002 to 2012, the country is in the fifth spot in terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP), besting Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia and Laos.
However, the country was behind Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
In terms of annual growth rates of GDP and GDP per capita, the country occupied the ninth spot from 2002 to 2004. However, it moved up to fifth spot in 2005 to 2010, while the country’s fiscal deficit went down from 5.4 percent in 2002 to 3.9 percent in 2009.
Moreover, the annual growth rates of merchandise exports went down to the last spot from 2005 to 2010 from seventh spot between 2002 and 2004.
In terms of foreign direct investments inflow, the Philippines remained on the ninth spot from 2002 to 2010.
From 2002 to 2008, Philippine unemployment rate was either the highest or second highest in the region.
“Job creation, indeed, needs to be addressed,” Virola said.
Meanwhile, from 2002 to 2011, the country was ranked sixth in terms of tourist arrivals. It was ahead of Cambodia (seventh in 2011) but behind Vietnam (fifth in 2011).
“Our edge over Cambodia has gone down and we have slid farther away from Vietnam. We used to receive about two-and-a-half times the tourists in Cambodia and three-fourths the tourists in Vietnam. Now, it is down to one-and-a-half times and two-thirds, respectively,” Virola added.
Virola’s article also cited the data from UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which showed the performance of Asean members in some education indicators.
It said that the Philippine adult literacy rate remains the highest in Asean, while the country also managed to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio from 35:1 in 2002 to 31 in 2009 for primary education, and from 38 in 2002 to 35 in 2009 for secondary education.
Also, the country had the second highest gross enrolment ratio in secondary education but had the fourth highest number of teaching staff.
“This may reflect on the quality of our secondary education and with K to 12 now in place, we would need even more teachers,” Virola said.
In terms of human development indicators, Virola said that the data from the UN Development Program suggests that the Philippines continues to have the third highest population growth rate among the 10 Asean countries.
The Philippines consistently ranked fifth in human development index, behind Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Philippine maternal mortality ratio and under-five mortality ratio was also consistently ranked fifth.
The country’s standing in terms of life expectancy, however, slipped one rank, from sixth highest in 2000 and 2005 to 2007 to seventh highest (or fourth lowest) in 2008 to 2011.
“Sadly, based on the statistics presented, the Philippines appears to be even more wobbly. But let us not lose hope,” Virola noted.
He mentioned the improvement of the Philippines in global competitiveness ranking, wherein the country gained 10 notches jumping to 65th out of 144 countries, up from last year’s 75th.
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