On the cabinet reshuffle and the BW Economic Forum

Last week, on May 22, the biggest piece of news was that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. requested all the Cabinet Secretaries and Presidential Advisers with Cabinet rank, to submit their courtesy resignations. The secretaries complied.

- BIENVENIDO S. OPLAS, JR.

It is a good thing that the next day, May 23, the President rejected the resignations of the economic team and hence, re-appointed them all. The team is composed of Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto, Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman, Economics Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, and Presidential Adviser Frederick D. Go. Trade and Industry Secretary Ma. Cristina A. Roque was also reappointed. Many secretaries from the other teams — infrastructure, social sector, political, and defense — have not been reappointed as of May 26.

The economic team has delivered. It has pivoted the Philippine economy such that it has become one of the top three fastest-growing large economies in the world — those with a GDP size at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) values of $500 billion and higher. There are 53 countries and economies in this category.

Some people and analysts are complaining that we are slowing down, that we were growing at a rate of 6-7% in 2021-2022. But they should see how other countries are doing, especially the developed economies of North America and Europe. Either they are crawling or contracting (“negative growth”).

Four indicators show that the economic team is composed of high performing and brilliant minds.

First is high GDP growth as discussed above.

Secondly, we are moving towards a low inflation rate, from 5.8% in 2022 to 3.4% in 2024, and only 1.4% as of April this year.