Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) President Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong has expressed optimism that Philippine economic growth shall be strong and will accelerate, revising upwards its last year’s forecast of 6.5% to 7.5% for 2022 to a higher forecast on economic growth of 7% to 9% this year, despite global uncertainties such as the Ukraine Russia war, rising interest rates, inflationary pressures, etc.
The FFCCCII is the nationwide umbrella federation of 170 Filipino Chinese chambers, diverse trade and industry groups from Aparri to Tawi-Tawi led by industrialist Lucio C. Tan as chairman emeritus and Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong as president. FFCCCII focuses on economic advocacies and socio-civic charities.
This is the statement of FFCCCII President Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong:
“We, the diverse business chambers and industry groups under the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII), are optimistic about the strong momentum of Philippine economic recovery, that we can achieve Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7 to 9% this year 2022.
“Among the reasons for our bullish forecast include the following:
We commend the next Marcos administration for upholding meritocracy in its appointments of exemplary leaders to take charge of the Philippine economy. The outstanding, highly-competent, richly experienced and respected technocrats recently appointed by President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. as top economic managers shall boost domestic and foreign investor confidence: Sec. Benjamin Diokno for Department of Finance (DoF), Felipe Medalla of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Sec. Arsenio Balicasan of National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and Alfredo Pascual of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI);
The continued steady reopening of the Philippine economy as our whole society has now adjusted, adapted and learned to live with the global pandemic;
Political stability as a result of the smooth and orderly 2022 election, resulting in a strong electoral mandate for the next administration to be led by a president and vice-president who are allies and teammates;
Sound monetary and fiscal policies of the Duterte administration;
Education — The appointment of dynamic, action-oriented leader presumptive Vice-President Sara Duterte Carpio has signified the new Marcos administration’s giving top priority for education and investing in the Philippines’ most valuable and important natural resource — human resource or the people. This strong commitment to improving education quality and opportunities shall help unleash the great potentials of the Philippine economy, boosting and maximizing our demographic sweet spot or comparative economic advantage of having young people as majority of the Filipino national population;
Build, Build, Build new infrastructure projects which have been completed and still under construction shall strengthen economic expansion, and the new Marcos administration has committed itself to continue this focus on infrastructure modernization;
Plant, Plant, Plant — We welcome and support the new Bongbong Marcos administration’s commitment to help Philippine agriculture, most especially Filipino rice farmers and the goal to lower the price of rice. We support agriculture modernization through better technologies like hybrid rice seedlings and the “Masagana 300” project (inspired by the 1970s “Masagana 99” project to boost rice production), better farming methods and equipment, more irrigation, etc.;
Fish, Fish, Fish — FFCCCII has approached the Department of Agriculture (DA) for a philanthropic project on how to modernize and uplift fishing capabilities of Filipino fishermen, so that the Philippines can lessen imports and boost incomes of fishing communities;
Spend, Spend, Spend — One source of optimism about Philippine economic recovery and robust growth is rising domestic investment and consumption. We encourage continued spending by domestic consumers and by government to boost economic growth;
MSMEs — We welcome the Marcos administration’s goal of assisting and nurturing our micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) to be catalysts of Philippine economic recovery;
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to be ratified by the Philippine Senate soon, thus opening up more export, investments and economic cooperation opportunities for the Philippines in the world’s biggest ever free-trade agreement (FTA) which includes all 10 ASEAN countries, China, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia; and
Diplomacy as a tool for economic engagement — The pragmatic independent foreign policy of the Duterte administration is expected to be continued and strengthened by the next Marcos administration, therefore ensuring increased robust export trade, growth in tourism, more foreign direct investments, foreign assistance from and other economic exchanges with all the world’s big powers.”