Philippine economy to sustain rosy growth until 2018

CEBU, Philippines — Regardless of the twists and turns of political noise in the Philippines, the country's economy will remain vibrant and healthy onwards 2018, a financial analyst and economist told Cebu businessmen.

"There are things that are more structural in nature, and economic drivers in the Philippines will remain intact and not affected by politics," said financial analyst Alvin Arogo in an economic briefing held recently in Cebu hosted by UTrade.

The Philippine economy is on for sweeping growth and will remain in place whoever is on top, dismissing fears that the unpopular decisions made or will be made by the government may affect direly in the country's economic pump.

He explained that aside from the strong economic fundamentals that have been put in place, like the sound policies implemented by the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) in 2002, the execution of EVAT in 2007, among others are the structures that strengthen the foundation of Philippines to support the economic vibrancy.

EVAT, significantly he said has put the Philippines into a better position resulted to impressive ratings consistently posted by foreign credit rating entities.

The country's hard to beat economic fuel is its demographics. The over 100 million population (and growing) continues to attract investors to pour in money in the Philippines capitalizing on its high consumer-based.

A peso spent by every Filipino could reap a million pesos revenue, he indicated.

The expanding group of median aged Filipinos is also an added boost to the economy. This group of consumers spend more, and highly productive.

"Whoever is in power will not change population and the median age in five years time," he said adding that the Philippines' "sweet spot" flirts investors regardless of political issues. (FREEMAN)