Photo from Malacañang Press Corps
MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on. Thursday told Cambodian business leaders that his administration is steering the Philippine economy in the right direction.
Marcos is currently in Phnom Penh to attend the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summits – his first as the country’s chief executive.
The Office of the Press Secretary shared in a statement the discussions between Marcos and several chief executive officers in Cambodia during a roundtable meeting on Thursday.
“It looks like the route that we have taken is taking the economy in the right direction,” Marcos said.
The President, however, pointed out that there are external forces which hamper the growth of the Philippine economy.
“As I was telling some of the Cabinet members, I think the Philippine economy, the important elements are in place, and you can feel that our economy is trying to grow but is really being pummeled by the forces outside of which we have no control,” he added.
Marcos cited the recent report of the Philippine Statistics Authority, which indicated that the unemployment rate in the country stood at 5 percent in September this year, bringing the number of jobless Filipinos down to 2.5 million – 183,000 fewer than the 2.68 million unemployed Filipinos recorded last August.
The President further noted that the Philippine economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, has grown by 7.6 percent from July to September, faster than the 7.5 percent expansion in the second quarter of this year.
A call for investments in PH
Marcos also called on Cambodian businesses to set their sights on forging investments in the Philippines which, he said, is on its way to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We would like to invite, at the very least, for you, to have a look at the opportunities that are available and finally, I supposed at some point, since we are not so far away, to come and we will explain to you exactly what we have done and why we have done it and where we have arrived in that process of transforming the economy,” he said.
“I do not talk about recovery of the economy. I talk about transformation of the economy because the new economy is going to be different from everything that we did in 2019. And so this is what we are looking forward to and I hope to see you all in the Philippines soon,” Marcos added.
He spotlighted his administration’s bid to bolster public-private and government-to-government partnerships through policy and procedural changes.
Marcos also noted that the Philippine government is pursuing direct investments in the country to further empower the manufacturing sector in a bid to make it a significant contributor to the GDP.
Micro, small and medium enterprises, agriculture, and energy were also among those which he referred to as “basic economic drivers.”
The President is expected to meet with other global leaders and other key organizations during the Asean summit and other related dialogues slated from Thursday, November 10 to Sunday, November 13.
He is also eyeing a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea.
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