The estimate growth of Philippine GDP is 5.5%-5.9% but the data/news shows otherwise, it’s 6.9%!

Philippine Growth Accelerates, Beating All Estimates (Update4)

By Francisco Alcuaz Jr.

May 31 (Bloomberg) — Philippine economic growth quickened in the first quarter, exceeding all expectations, as money sent home by nationals working abroad buoyed consumer spending and exports to China soared.

The $117 billion Southeast Asian economy expanded 6.9 percent from a year ago, following a revised 5.5 percent gain in the previous three months, the National Statistical Coordination Board said in Manila today. Economists expected 5.7 percent.

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Comments (0) Posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007

Interesting article about Thailand vs Philippines. Hope to keep this momentum going

I am sitting in Liverpool in the UK writing this, having been travelling almost non-stop for the whole of April and all of May so far. I am almost over the shock of having bought the world’s most expensive kebab in a wealthy area of London at a posh kebab shop (which sounds like an oxymoron to me). The price – EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY BAHT (12.50 GBP!)

since my last column I have been to the Philippines, France, Italy, Dubai, the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of East Africa, where I was able to swim with (and photograph – see pic) a pod of wild dolphins, which was a superb experience, and I’m finally now back in the UK. I was impressed by my time in the Philippines, which, after the recent travails of Thailand actually appears to be an increasingly attractive alternative destination in which to live and invest, if you select your destination carefully. No sooner had I decided to write about it, than a big article appeared in the Wall Street Journal echoing my own increasingly favourable impressions of the Philippines from this trip. It gave the recent example of Texas Instruments building a second, 1 billion US$ assembly plant there, in preference to China which has seen land prices, rents and salaries soar on the east coast, and because they don’t want to put all their eggs in the China basket.

They were also swayed by the prevalence of a highly educated and fluent English-speaking population, which is why Vietnam didn’t get it. The same considerations are moving Intel towards locating a 2.5 billion US$ plant in the Philippines, where new tax legislation and greater investment brought about by a stabilizing political and economic landscape have breathed new life into the wider economy and boosted annual GDP figures which in turn attract even more investment though favourable publicity. I don’t think Thailand was ever in the running, but it goes to show what factors influence business decisions in the region. I spent a few days in Subic Bay, scuba diving on World War 2 shipwrecks, and I had a great time there. I also looked at the strong, well-run local economy and liked what I saw. Subic used to be a big US navy base, and is now a Freeport and a preferential economic zone which is attracting increasing business, and is expanding fast, with ongoing land reclamation projects and companies queuing up to build factories there.

From Pattaya Today

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This is definitely great news for the Philippines in general. Texas Instruments may paved the way for other foreign companies to invest in the country. According to other reports it’s going to be eco-friendly too. Hopefully this will drive DLP HDTV’s down and the calculator that every US high school student love to hate the TI-83.

On side note: Hopefully they can make a law if it doesn’t exist yet that every plant in the Philippines onward possible 2010 must be eco-friendly.

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