Hollowed-out Philippine economy is in for tough times

Import in, export out, consume within. The equation "globalisation" built will be the undoing of the Philippine economy -- unless Filipinos re-learn how to produce REAL products domestically.

The writing is on the wall. The world is headed for a recession and the Philippines’ is a vulnerable economy. It depends on imports for food and for input — fuel, machinery, and semi-finished products — into most of whatever production industries it has left. The latter highlights an important detail worth noting — that what is regarded as “manufacturing” in the Philippines is really just mere labour-added-value assembly. To pay for all those imports, the Philippines relies on exports — raw materials, undifferentiated low-value products, and human labour. The latter is in the form of overseas workers and outsourced operations. This means the most skilled high-added-value Filipino workers are also exported. Raw. Like all else it exports.