Think-Tank Belies Arroyo’s Claims of Economic ‘Gains’

Independent think-tank IBON Foundation belies Malacañang’s claim of an improving economy, and asks why the palace does not dare to hype the economic figures that really matter to the majority of Filipinos.

BY IBON FOUNDATION
Posted by Bulatlat

Independent think-tank IBON Foundation belies Malacañang’s claim of an improving economy, and asks why the palace does not dare to hype the economic figures that really matter to the majority of Filipinos.

According to IBON research head Sonny Africa, the economic numbers that can best illustrate the economy and that matter most to Filipinos are the rising jobless rate and deficient wage levels, and not macroeconomic indicators that the administration hypes such as rising stock markets, credit ratings, strengthening peso and the like.

Africa said that the biggest failure of the Arroyo government is the unprecedented lack of jobs, even amid so-called continued economic growth. According to IBON estimates, close to a third of the labor force is jobless or looking for additional work. Aggravating the jobs crisis is how legislated incomes chronically fall short of the amount needed for decent living, Africa added, pointing out that President Arroyo had vowed to veto the bill passed by the House and Senate granting an across-the-board P125 ($2.568 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.673) hike in workers’ pay. He said that the amount needed for a decent standard of living in the National Capital Region (NCR) has already reached P766 ($15.73) a day, just 46 percent of the daily legislated minimum wage, and a 50 percent increase from the P509 ($10.45) per day needed in 2001.

Compounding the problem further, Africa added, is that the real value of wages in Metro Manila has been falling since 2002. From a real value of P252.36 ($5.184) in 2002, the real value of daily wages in the NCR has fallen to just P239.28 ($4.91) as of November 2006.

Africa pointed out that the economic values most sensitive to “politicking” have little bearing on the people’s welfare. The short-term movements of exchange rates and portfolio flows that the government hype are meaningful mainly to speculators who gamble in financial instruments.

But the economic figures that the Arroyo government loves to proclaim as proof of its good economic stewardship are meaningless to the majority of Filipinos struggling to make ends meet, Africa said. IBON Foundation
(Bulatlat.com)