Sign of progress

A colleague, Joe, complained on Facebook that it took him three hours to drive from Pasig to Makati. Ho hum! Nothing new.

- BOO CHANCO

It once took my Singaporean daughter-in-law more than three hours to get to our place in Pasig from Terminal 3. That’s also about how long it took to fly from Singapore’s Changi Airport to NAIA T3.

I recall that Mar Roxas once called our traffic jams a sign of progress. Interestingly, Leni Robredo, Mar’s running mate at the time said, “I don’t think that’s correct. Yes, there’s progress but that’s no reason for traffic. More progressive countries have less traffic.” Leni went on to admit that the Aquino administration failed to address the problems in our mass transport system.

But Mar may be onto something. According to BMI, a unit of Fitch Ratings, robust economic growth made them revise upward their 2024 vehicle sales forecast for the Philippines to an 8.5-percent increase, reaching approximately 466,500 units. BMI noted higher-than-expected vehicle demand year-to-date.

Last February, BMI forecasted real Philippine GDP growth at 6.2 percent this year but downgraded it to six percent last month. “Most of the economic momentum will be domestically driven. Continued consumer resilience and a rebound in investment activity will support growth.”

Reduced borrowing costs will support the growth of the passenger car segment, as households respond favorably to lower financing rates, BMI predicts. For the commercial vehicle segment, BMI sees a growth of seven percent in 2024, reaching around 343,000 units, driven by strong growth in the construction and mining sectors.