Publication: Philippine Economic Update, April 2016: Moving Full Speed Ahead--Accelerating Reforms to Create More and Better Jobs
Loading...
Published
2016-04
ISSN
Date
2016-06-02
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Philippine Economic Update (PEU) provides an update on key economic and social developments, as well as policies over the past six months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank studies on the Philippines. It places them in a longer term and global context, and assesses the implications of these developments and policies on the outlook for the Philippines. Its coverage ranges from the macro-economy and financial markets to indicators of human welfare and development. It is intended for a wide audience, including policymakers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in the Philippines. Poverty reduction is expected to continue if the country is able to maintain the relatively high economic growth and the more positive job trends in recent years, despite recent shocks to agriculture. Recent trends show an improvement in the country’s growth-poverty elasticity, which means growth is becoming more inclusive. However, the recent increase in the underemployment rate and weak agricultural output in 2016 will need to be countered by sustained increase in per capita income growth and a continued focus on supporting the structurally poor through effective social protection programs. Under these assumptions, extreme poverty is projected to further decrease from nine percent in 2014 to 6.8 percent in 2018.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2016. Philippine Economic Update, April 2016: Moving Full Speed Ahead--Accelerating Reforms to Create More and Better Jobs. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24397 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Indonesia Economic Quarterly, December 2015(Washington, DC, 2015-12)The Indonesia Economic Quarterly (IEQ) has two main aims. First, it reports on the key developments over the past three months in Indonesia’s economy, and places these in a longerterm and global context. Based on these developments, and on policy changes over the period, the IEQ regularly updates the outlook for Indonesia’s economy and social welfare. Second, the IEQ provides a more in-depth examination of selected economic and policy issues, and analysis of Indonesia’s medium-term development challenges. It is intended for a wide audience, including policymakers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Indonesia’s evolving economy. This paper discusses about the economic conditions of Indonesia for the year 2015. Emerging market assets rebounded in October 2015 after the sharp losses recorded in August and September, when the uncertainty about the Chinese economic slowdown and the U.S. interest rate outlook was particularly high. Despite a more favorable market sentiment, capital flows to emerging economies have remained weak and borrowing costs relatively high. In addition to tight financing conditions, Indonesia faced subdued external demand for its exports in the near term and persistently low commodity prices over the medium run. In 2015, fire in Indonesia cost nearly twice that of reconstruction following the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. Agriculture and forestry have sustained losses and damages in trillions. Sustained exposure to haze could also lead to the volcano effect, i.e., a decrease in plant productivity in the short term due to limited sun exposure and a deleterious effect on plant physiology and photosynthesis. The recurring nature of Indonesia’s fire crisis is of particular concern. Another potential step in Indonesia’s new reform process was the country’s signaling its intention to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in the near future. Whether membership materializes or not, the agreement is likely to have a limited impact on trade, because import tariffs in member countries are already low and Indonesia has trade agreements with most of them.Publication China Economic Update, June 2015(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-07-03)Chinas economic growth continues to moderate, in 2014 gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 7.4 percent, within the governments indicative growth target of about 7.5 percent for the year, but sharply slower than the 10 percent annual growth rate china averaged for three consecutive decades. An orderly correction in real estate - reflecting policy efforts to reduce supply mismatches and tighten nonbank credit - continues to weigh on economic activity. Ongoing adjustments in real estate, a buildup of excess capacity, and decelerating export growth are affecting industrial activity. In contrast growth in services remained robust as composition of growth continues to improve.Publication Bangladesh - Towards Accelerated, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth : Opportunities and Challenges, Volume 1. Overview(Washington, DC, 2012-09)In Bangladesh, growth needs to accelerate to absorb the burgeoning labor force and continue making dents in poverty. Such acceleration will require sustained growth in exports and remittances. It will also need an increase in investment both public and private. However, growth acceleration alone will not be enough to absorb the labor force. This will need an improvement in employment intensity of growth, and a further improvement in inclusiveness of service delivery. Moreover, to help ensure that growth acceleration is sustained, the ex-ante and ex-post effects of climate change will need to be addressed. Finally, urbanization offers opportunities to accelerate growth, but can also undermine it if not proactively managed. Bangladesh's Gross National Income (GNI) per capita more than tripled in the past two-and-a-half decades, from an average of US$251 in the 1980s to US$784 by 2011. This growth was accompanied by impressive progress in human development. Yet, after 40 years of independence, Bangladesh remains a low-income country with nearly 50 million people still impoverished and its economic growth potential under-exploited. It is therefore important to understand the drivers underpinning Bangladesh's growth process, what enabled the drivers to move Bangladesh forward, what its prospects are for graduating to middle-income country status by 2021, as envisaged in its sixth five-year plan, and what it would take to accelerate growth sufficiently to achieve this objective.Publication Philippine Economic Update : Accelerating Reforms to Meet the Jobs Challenge(Washington, DC, 2013-05)The Philippine economic update provides an update on key economic and social developments, and policies over the past 6 to 12 months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank studies on the Philippines. The Philippine economy expanded by 6.6 percent in 2012, exceeding most expectations, including the government's own target of 5 to 6 percent. The pace and efficiency of national government spending improved remarkably in 2012. Higher government spending was matched by a significant increase in revenue collection, with a strong contribution from improved tax administration. Total tax revenues grew by 13.2 percent and tax effort increased from 12.3 to 12.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)-the highest increase in decades attributable to improved tax administration. The medium-term growth prospects for the Philippines are good. GDP growth is projected at 6.2 percent in 2013, driven by domestic demand. There is no silver bullet for creating more and better jobs, as it is linked to resolving deep-seated, structural issues in the economy. Only a comprehensive reform agenda implemented across sectors can foster a business environment conducive to private sector job creation by firms of all sizes. A unique window of opportunity exists today to accelerate reforms that will help create more and better jobs.Publication Mongolia Economic Update, November 2013(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-11)In 2013, the Mongolian economy is expected to maintain double digit growth due to the start of copper production of the Oyu Tolgoi (OT) mine and expansionary economic policies. Yet, the economy is facing a significant challenge from growing balance of payments pressures as the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow declines and the mineral exports remain weak. A substantial balance of payments imbalance stems from a weakening minerals market but also largely reflects the consequences of pro-cyclical economic management over the last two years. Mongolia may also face a downside risk from an uncertain global economic environment and further dampening of minerals market. Macro-economic and financial vulnerabilities are growing due to continuous expansionary fiscal and monetary policies reflected in significant off-budget spending and rapid credit growth. The government took a series of positive measures in recent months to address the challenges including the adoption of the new investment law, announcement of a fiscal consolidation plan, and subsequent amendment of the 2013 budget to tighten budget spending. Yet, further efforts are needed to shift the growth-oriented economic policies toward economic stability and rebuilding macro-economic policy buffers, in light of uncertain prospects in the external environment and the balance of payments situation.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Georgia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-17)Tourism is a major driver of Georgia's economic growth and diversification, revenue generated by international visitors amounted to 4.1 billion USD in 2023, making tourism one of the leading industries. However, the sector is far from reaching its full potential. Despite the impressive growth in arrivals experienced since 2009, Georgia relies heavily on visitors from neighboring countries. In 2023, the combined share of Russia, Turkiye, Armenia, and Azerbaijan accounted for sixty-one percent of the total international visitors’ trips, while emerging markets with higher expenditure levels still represent a small percentage of international tourism visitors. Georgia offers natural diversity, from green valleys and seaside to deserts and high mountains of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, a variety of religious and historical attractions and a rich gastronomy, but only few regions concentrate a higher percentage of visitors - Tbilisi, Adjara and Mtskheta-Mtianeti. Limited connectivity (road access) and other relevant infrastructure and the availability of high-quality experiences and services is hindering the development of other destinations. The objective of this report is to identify key bottlenecks and challenges still affecting tourism sector development in Georgia and provide recommendations to enhance future economic development through sustainable, inclusive, and resilient tourism approaches.Publication Population and Development in the Sahel(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-08)The demographic transition in the Sahel region has been slower than that in the rest of the world. Although child mortality rates have declined in recent decades, they are still higher in West Africa than in other regions. Furthermore, the fertility decline has progressed very slowly, with some countries seeing stalls and others even an increase in birth rates. The speed with which this transition takes place has a critical impact on a population’s age structure and future potential for economic productivity. The current rates of change in the Sahelian sub region will make it unlikely that countries will achieve an age structure that will create a youth bulge of a healthy, well-nourished, and educated cohort ready to enter a modern labor market to capture a sizable demographic dividend. Once missed, this opportunity for a demographic dividend will not return. This analysis uses quantitative data triangulated with the qualitative findings and policy analyses to identify the triggers necessary to accelerate the demographic dividend in this sub region.Publication Building the Foundation for Accountability in Ethiopia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-01)The Ethiopia Social Accountability Program (ESAP) seeks to empower citizens, strengthen civil society, promote citizen engagement in public venues, modify how public officials engage citizens, and improve service delivery. This paper assesses the impact of the second phase of the ESAP intervention and contributes to the emerging literature on the effectiveness of social accountability interventions. A survey was administered to 3,411 households in two time periods (2013 and 2017). Difference-in-difference with matching was used to compare similar households in ESAP (treatment) and control woredas. Although conditions to generate meaningful social and policy change were not favorable because of the national state of emergency, drought and economic slowdown, the survey finds preliminary evidence that the presence of ESAP helped to establish the foundations of social accountability at local levels across Ethiopia. Several noteworthy findings include: increases in citizen participation in local committees and other policymaking venues; improvements in citizen satisfaction with the more immediate delivery of basic services; increases of more critical attitudes regarding more structural problems; and a more modest decline in access to information and use of specific social accountability tools (e.g. community scorecards) in comparison to steeper declines in non-ESAP woredas in the context of a national state of emergency.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Managing an Electricity Shortfall : A Guide for Policy Makers(World Bank, 2010-11-01)Economic growth in Central America has increased rapidly over the past 20 years. Currently, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for the six Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama averages approximately US$3,600. However, masked behind this average figure is a Sub region of 40 million people with a wide variety of income, where more than half of the population lives in poverty. Energy in general and electricity specifically are critical for economic development. Electricity is needed to power the machinery that supports income-generating opportunities. Capital (both domestic and foreign) is attracted to countries that are able to offer an affordable, reliable source of electricity for businesses. Although the individual electricity markets of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama are not large, together the six countries collectively generated nearly 38 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of power, equivalent to around 70 percent of the annual electricity supply of a medium-sized country in Latin America. The World Bank has undertaken a series of studies to better understand the energy challenges facing these six Central American countries that are to be joined by Sistema de Interconexion Electrica para America Central (SIEPAC) and to identify actions to promote the sound development of the sector. These studies have been prepared by a team of policy experts, engineers and economists as part of an integrated series entitled the Central America programmatic energy studies, with a primary focus on the electricity subsector. The initial phase of this programmatic series includes three modules. The first module is general issues and options; second module is managing an electricity shortfall; and the third module is structure and regulatory challenges. This particular document, the managing an electricity shortfall module, provides a framework for action and a broad menu of options available to policy makers to bridge a supply-demand gap in the short- to medium-term.