Ep 336: Randell Tiongson's Outlook on The Philippine Economy

Randell: I'll give you words that are cautiously optimistic. It's not looking too good, I believe. Of course, there has to be a benchmark. If my benchmark is going to be our neighbors, we are lagging behind it because we've taken a long time to try to do the vaccines, opening the economy, and things like mass testing. That has an impact on the economy in general. So again, that's a problem. So in that case we are lagging in terms of our recovery. It's going to take a long time for us. A lot of the economies have begun to open. We are lagging. We're still in the process of: How do we open it up more? And it took us a while to get a groove in managing the pandemic, so that's having a problem in the economy. That's why unemployment is high, productivity-side, supply-side is not yet there, and demands have been low. So it's going to take a longer time for us to recover. But we're seeing signs of growth. We have to be more patient. Maybe you need to give the Philippine economy a two-year reprieve. Do not expect much this year and maybe next year, but I believe we're going to be in full swing in two years from now. So opportunities to take a look at: What can I do now that we're waiting? Do I start investing? So there are opportunities for that. Do I look at certain businesses that will do well during this time? So the economy is slowing down. The economic recovery is slower notwithstanding. There are opportunities that are for us to find there.