Marty de Jesus

B12

Filipinos and the Asian Economy

The Philippines has been considered one of the most vibrant economies in

Southeast Asia, seeing decent growth during the past few decades. The country also

has one of the highest English literacy rates in the world, which gives it a significant

economic advantage over many other countries. However, in order to further integrate

into not only the global market, but also among fellow Asian countries, the Philippines

must further both its services and agricultural sectors.

Since the Philippine education system teaches English from a very early age, it

has a very high rate of English literacy. Because of this, its services sector has been

growing and has been able to supply multiple nations with workers, especially

professional, technical, managerial, and skilled labor. Besides, the Philippine economy

after being modernized, specifically worked on this sector instead of agriculture in order

to grow, especially in a technological age, where the demand of services of this kind

continues to increase. The Philippines also, in order to further integrate economically

with fellow Asian nations, must focus on offering services to these nations, along with

the international market.

The Philippines, even during precolonial times, has been an agricultural country,

only changing after its economical modernization of focusing less on agriculture, and

more on industry. However, agriculture still plays a big part in the Philippine economy

and has a big potential in further integrating the Philippines into the Asian market,

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especially when it comes to exporting. A negative aspect of the Philippine economy is

that political leaders tend to do economically unwise things to further their own agendas,

especially in creating projects that do not benefit in the long run. However, if someday

the leaders decide to bring in a lot of focus in the agricultural sector, the Philippines will

not only incorporate much better in economical markets, specifically the Asian one, but

will also continue and even improve in terms of economical growth.

To conclude, the Philippines still has a lot of work to do in order to become like

economically successful nations such as Singapore, Japan, or South Korea, yet further

integrating with other Asian nations is still something to work towards, especially if

sound economic policies continue to be enforced, and new yet productive ones also get

implemented.

Citations:

Philippines as a promising market. Danmark i Filippinerne. (n.d.). Retrieved December

20, 2022, from https://filippinerne.um.dk/en/trade-council/philippines-as-a-promising-

market#:~:text=The%20Philippines%20has%20one%20of,domestic%20consumption

%20and%20infrastructure%20expenditures.

Services. Securing The Future of Philippine Industries. (n.d.). Retrieved December 20,

2022, from https://industry.gov.ph/category/services/

Fao.org. Philippines at a glance | FAO in the Philippines |

 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.). Retrieved

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December 20, 2022, from https://www.fao.org/philippines/fao-in-philippines/philippines-

at-a-glance/en/