THE aftermath of twin typhoons, Ondoy and Pepeng left the Philippines devastated, with hundreds of people dead and others, still missing. Millions of pesos have been spent for damages and most areas in Luzon will never be the same again.
According to Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves, damage caused by the storms may shave percentage points from the country’s gross domestic product, which was initially projected to grow at least 0.8 percent this year. This is due to the fact that many industries have been directly affected – fl ooding destroyed most farm crops and factories.
If you think about the cost of rehabilitating and rebuilding what was lost, our country should be in the middle of an economic maelstrom and a collapse is almost inevitable.
Yet, according to NEDA Director General Augusto B. Santos,”there are counter factors that make the economy resilient, such as (buoyant) consumption amid continued low infl ation and higher-than-expected remittances (that) would drive growth for the year.”
He also noted that “the 1.5-percent year-on-year GDP growth recorded in the second quarter, which was better than projections, made the Philippines one of only four countries in the region to have posted positive growth.”
One of the major factors that’s keeping the economy afl oat is the uninterrupted fl ow of remittances from Overseas Filipinos. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas recently reported that their was a signifi cant 2.8 percent increase in OFW remittances for the month of August due to the steady deployment of OFWs and the increasing number of remittance centers worldwide.
That and the fact that there’s a steady stream of foreign aid coming from our allies and Pinoys abroad that help sustain efforts to counter losses, not to mention the personal funds being sent home by OFWs to their affected families that boost domestic spending.
Miracle or not, our country’s economic resilience brings calmness after the storm. There’s still a lot of work ahead for the government and for our devastated kababayans back home, but a ray of hope shines amid the gloom. Proof that despite the trials that come our way, the Filipino still can keep his head above water. (AJPress)
( www.asianjournal.com )
( Published October 17, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A12 )
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