The "Duterte discount" in the Philippines

Once widely dubbed “the sick man of Asia”, the Philippines has turned into another Asian tiger, with World Bank thinking the economy will grow by more than 6% a year in the eight years to 2019.

Once widely dubbed "the sick man of Asia", the Philippines has turned into another Asian tiger, says Karl Lester Yap on Bloomberg. The World Bank thinks the economy will grow by more than 6% a year in the eight years to 2019.

So what's gone right? Former president Benigno Aquino curbed corruption, improved the tax-revenue collection system, and tackled overspending and borrowing. The government owes 42% of GDP, down from 70% in 2003. A well-educated, English-speaking population has carved out a niche for itself in business process outsourcing (back office administration) and high-tech manufacturing. The young 100-million-strong population is fuelling consumption, which accounts for 70% of GDP. So the economy is less exposed to the global business cycle than its regional peers.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Andrew Van Sickle
Editor, MoneyWeek

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.