The Philippines' economy was traditionally based on agriculture and exports of primary commodities before WWII. After independence in 1946, the economy remained dependent on trade with the US until the 1950s when the government tried to encourage industrialization. Through the 1970s, policies promoted exports and foreign investment, but debt rose rapidly. The economy suffered a deep recession in the 1980s due to a global recession, mismanagement under President Marcos, and the debt crisis. Major reforms in the 1990s privatized industries and reduced government intervention, stabilizing the economy. By the early 2000s, the government was pursuing further reforms to increase development.

1. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
Reported by:
Rego P. Frio
(BSEd 3-B, Group 1)

2. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
• Before World War II (1939-1945)
the economy of the Philippines
was based on the production
and export of a narrow range of
primary commodities, mainly
agricultural and forest products.
The Supreme Court of the

3. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
United States ruled in the early
20th century that Philippine
goods could enter the American
market without tariff restraints.
In the trade that followed, the
United States imported
Philippine agricultural goods and

4. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
provided the Philippines with
most manufactured items. The
Philippines had virtually no
manufacturing other than the
processing of food products,
primarily for the United States
market.

5. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
After independence in 1946, the
Philippines initially remained
dependent on free-trade access
to United States markets for its
agricultural commodities,
especially sugar. Government
restrictions on import spending

6. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
spurred an increase in
manufacturing for the domestic
market. During the 1950s the
Philippines tried to become an
industrialized nation. In the long
term, however, protectionist
economic policies provided little

7. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
incentive for the development of
labor-intensive export
manufacturing. In the 1970s the
government implemented a
policy to encourage export
manufactures and foreign
investment, and the rate of

8. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
economic growth accelerated.
The country’s foreign debt rose
dramatically, however, and by
the mid-1970s the country faced
problems meeting payments on
its international loans. This
problem was compounded by a

9. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
worldwide recession in the early
1980s. The recession resulted in
less demand for Philippine
manufactures, and the economy
moved into a deep recession in
the mid-1980s.

10. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
At this time the Philippine
economy also suffered from
more than a decade of economic
mismanagement under
President Ferdinand Marcos,
who ruled by decree after
declaring martial law in 1972.

11. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
Under Marcos the government
greatly expanded the number of
public-sector enterprises.
Government-mandated
monopolies were set up in
various sectors, while subsidies
and special privileges were

12. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
awarded to close associates of
Marcos. This concentration of
ownership and control among
the president’s closest business
associates, friends, and relatives
became known as crony
capitalism. The system allowed

13. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
for rampant corruption. During
the economic recession of the
1980s, many of the crony
enterprises experienced severe
financial difficulties. This in turn
undermined the viability of the
big government-owned banks
and led to an economic crisis.

14. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
Major structural reforms
implemented during succeeding
government administrations
dismantled the monopolies and
promoted privatization.
Measures to stabilize the
economy involved compliance

15. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
with a severe austerity program
of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF). Economic reforms
reduced government
intervention in the economy and
stimulated the private sector. By
the mid-1990s the Philippine

16. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
economy had largely recovered
and was experiencing steady
growth. It contracted much less
dramatically than other Asian
countries from the regional
financial crisis of 1997. It
contracted much less

17. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
dramatically than other Asian
countries from the regional
financial crisis of 1997. It was
also slower to rebound,
however, due to drought
conditions that caused a sharp
fall in agricultural output in

18. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
1998. The modest pace of
economic recovery was
adversely affected by corruption
in government and a global
economic downturn in the early
2000s that reduced demand for
Philippine manufactures by the

19. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
country’s two largest trading
partners, the United States and
Japan.

20. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
In the early 2000s the
government was pursuing
economic reforms to help the
Philippines match the pace of
development in the so-called
newly industrialized economies
of East Asia. The strategy

21. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
includes improving
infrastructure, revamping the tax
system to increase government
revenues, promoting further
deregulation and privatization of
the economy, and expanding
trade ties in the region.

22. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
The estimated governmental
budget in 2006 included
revenues of $19 billion and
expenditures of $20.5 billion.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in
2006 was $117.6 billion, or
$1,362.80 per person.

23. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
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24. Economic Setting:
The Philippines
Salamat!!!

25. Economic Setting
as we
Understanding

26. Economic Community
for
establish an

29. Republic of the Philippines
CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY
Dumarao Satellite College, Dumarao, Capiz
Theme: “Understanding Better the Political, Economic &
Socio-Cultural
Settings of Southeast Asian Nations for
Peace, Prosperity & People”
May 25, 2015 (8:00-11:30 am)
Campus Library