Catharsis

I am not an economist I have had exposure in Leconomics. I am a bachelor of literature, major in journalism, magna cum laude, but my electives in college were economics, banking and marketing.

- TONY LOPEZ

I also took up three semesters of MBA, at Ateneo, and MBA is basically applying economic fundamentals to your business so you make money and get rich.

As a business writer, I attended scores of economics seminars - by the central bank, by banks, by research institutions. I have covered business and the economy for 55 years. I am a reporter who has visited more industrial plants (flour mills, breweries, potato chips factories, auto plants, gold and copper mines, semiconductors, smelters, steel mills, shipbuilding plants) and more PEZA zones than anyone in the business. I interviewed and interacted with nearly all our economic managers, the best - and the worst- of them, from 1970 to the present. Of course, I also covered politicians hundreds by now. Many, if not most of them, are bad economic managers. Except when they promote their families and their vested interests. That is when they are at their best.

Our politics and our economy today are undergoing a catharsis. In Greek tragedy, catharsis means a purgation or purification of emotions, like pity, fear, anger, so that at the end of it, you are cleared of your hang-ups, your burden is lighter, you feel better, you think better. And the future looks clearer and brighter.

The economy is in a slump. From an average of 6.4 percent from 2010 to 2019, we dive to five or below five percent growth in 2025. Growth forecasts by experts vary: 4.8 percent by S&P Global Ratings, 5.3 percent by the World Bank, 5.4 percent by the IMF and 5.6 percent by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank. Still, these growth rates make the Philippines the second best performing economy among the major countries of the ASEAN.