Dark clouds over Philippine skies

Duterte's recent performance ratings show a Southward trend. This is expected since Mr. Duterte's hard stance on the imposition of higher taxes that made the inflation rate go Northward, his continued dogged adherence to China, his recent tirades against the Catholic Church and the continuing peace and order situation are slowly erasing whatever public gains this administration made in the two years Mr. Duterte had been in office.

Worse, Mr. Duterte is also being blamed largely by the dismal economic performance of the Philippines in five years. His infrastructure program is raking enormous foreign loan interests while most are still not taking off ground--meaning we are paying these projects already while most are just waiting for the go-signal of the government.

The Philippine peso is also being battered by an improving dollar yet it is surprisingly the only ASEAN currency not faring very well. Most Asian currencies are holding themselves up against the surging dollar. This shows that though the Philippine economic fundamentals are strong, there are not enough foreign funds coming in. It reflects the "wait-and-see" attitude of foreign investors.

The expected economic windfall from the "build, build,build" program has not yet arrived because these loans from China undergo processes which may see some funded projects stalled by as many as twelve months. Our "highly intelligent" economic managers want government to fund these projects by itself which tells you why next year's budget ballooned to 3.6 trillion pesos, a portion of it allotted for payments of foreign and local loans. With a higher threshold, revenue generating regulatory agencies would now be hard put achieving their respective targets. Expect higher regulatory fees, tolls and of course, additional tax measures.

With higher taxes, expect local companies to either fold up or sell themselves to bigger conglomerates. Bigger companies will have a bevy of cheaper firms to buy. This is good overall but bad for consumers. Bigger companies sell higher priced goods and services.

Exports are suffering due to the strengthening dollar and because of this, it is widening our trade deficits.

What do all these mean for us, Filipinos? Expect a further worsening of the local economy. Filipinos will need to scrimp more and will try to make do with what they are able to buy and consume.