MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte needs to tone down his style of tough rhetoric because it is having an impact on the country’s business climate that had already resulted in the poor performance of the economy, an economist claimed recently.
In a speech during a policy forum in Pasig City, Professor Emmanuel de Dios of the University of the Philippines School of Economics claimed the Duterte administration has been missing growth targets and continuing to under spend on infrastructure, while inflation rate has soared.
A change in Duterte’s tone would make the business environment more predictable and keep investors from turning their backs on the country, the professor noted.
“He should … Ewan ko kung magagawa natin iyon, but it will make it more predictable. Don’t make a policy off the cuff,” De Dios said in an interview after his speech.
Inflation accelerated to 5.2 percent in June, the fastest in at least five years, according to the statistics office.De Dios said unmet growth targets undermine the case for new taxes.
He is opposed to a shift in the mode of executing flagship government projects from public-private partnership (PPP) to official development assistance (ODA). The preference for ODA is contrary to the 10-point socioeconomic agenda of the Duterte administration, the economist claimed.
“They should also rely more on the private sector to do things kaysa doon sa you will insist on general appropriations which are very tedious procedures. T’saka try to maximize the use of PPP or even ‘yung unsolicited proposals,” De Dios said.
One reason for the poor performance of the economy, De Dios claimed, is the fear of Cabinet members to voice their opinions on Duterte knowing the possibility of a backlash.
This fear has caused the members of Duterte’s inner circle to justify his policies even if they knew these have not been studied carefully, the professor also claimed.
“I think that part of the problem is everybody’s afraid of him. Even his Cabinet is afraid of him and so there’s no room for the Cabinet to say, ‘Let’s make a rational study of this or that policy’. So they defer. Once he says it, ijujustify na nung Cabinet. Baligtad. They’ll find a reason why it’s the correct thing to do even though it’s not been studied thoroughly,” De Dios further claimed. (GMA News)
