DuterteNomics


DuterteNomics or Dutertenomics is a catch-all term referring to the socioeconomic policies of Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines. A significant part of the policy includes the development of infrastructure and industries.

Background

has said that the government required what he describes as an "audacious" economic strategy in order for the Philippines to "catch up with its more vibrant neighbors" by 2022 and help it achieve high-income economy status within a generation. The term DuterteNomics was coined to describe the economic policy of the Duterte administration. The term also refers to the series of forums where Duterte's economic team pitches the administration's plan to help the country become a high-middle-income economy by 2022.
The policy was unveiled on April 18, 2017, by the Department of Finance and the Presidential Communications Operations Office, in cooperation with the Center for Strategy, Enterprise and Intelligence in a forum held at Conrad Manila in Pasay. A second forum was held on April 25, 2017.
DuterteNomics was also pitched abroad, particularly at the 2017 World Economic Forum on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia and at the sidelines of the 2017 One Belt One Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China.

Ten-point agenda

The economics team of then President-elect Rodrigo Duterte presented the following points of Duterte's socioeconomic policy in a business forum in Davao in June 2016. DuterteNomics is anchored on these ten principles.
  1. Continue and maintain current macroeconomic policies, including fiscal, monetary, and trade policies.
  2. Institute progressive tax reform and more effective tax collection, indexing taxes to inflation.
  3. Increase competitiveness and the ease of doing business.
  4. Accelerate annual infrastructure spending to account for 5% of GDP, with Public-Private Partnerships playing a key role.
  5. Promote rural and value chain development toward increasing agricultural and rural enterprise productivity and rural tourism.
  6. Ensure security of land tenure to encourage investments, and address bottlenecks in land management and titling agencies.
  7. Invest in human capital development, including health and education systems, and match skills and training.
  8. Promote science, technology, and the creative arts to enhance innovation and creative capacity.
  9. Improve social protection programs, including the government's Conditional Cash Transfer program.
  10. Strengthen implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law.

    Build! Build! Build! Infrastructure Plan

Part of DuterteNomics is the Build! Build! Build! Infrastructure Plan which according to the administration will usher in the "Golden Age of Infrastructure". The goals of the program are to reduce poverty, encourage economic growth and reduce congestion in Metro Manila. As of August 2019, only 12% of the flagship projects have construction underway. This has been attributed to the delayed passage of the 2019 national budget and the election ban on public works.
As of November 2019, since Duterte assumed position in June 2016, a total of of roads, 2,709 bridges, 4,536 flood control projects, 82 evacuation centers, and 71,803 classrooms under the “Build, Build, Build” program were completed. In the same month, the government revised its list of flagship infrastructure projects under Duterte's "Build, Build, Build" program, expanding it to 100.

Associated projects

Transportation related projects

Railways

Economic outlook

In December 2017, government data revealed that the Philippines' output of nickel ore fell 16 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, after the country, which is the world's top supplier of the metal, suspended some mines in a clampdown on environmental violations. Production dropped to 19.8 million tonnes in the nine months to September from 25.97 million tonnes a year ago, according to the data. According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the "Philippine economy is delivering the performance we anticipated, notwithstanding the political noise and a significant terrorist event in Mindanao". Dominguez gave the assessment during the Banyan Tree Leadership Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
On March 31, 2018, the Financial Times reported that the export of the Philippines has continued its drastic drop for the fifth month in a row, while the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the trade deficit of the country has widened to 47.6%, endangering further the country's local economies.
In October 2018, the World Bank downgraded the economic outlook of the Philippines for 2018, but expects it to remain strong. FMIC and UA&P expect the economy to improve in the second half of 2018.
On November 2, 2018, the Philippines slipped 11 places from the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings. The Department of Finance is demanding a correction from the World Bank, citing the smaller data set used to assess the country's credit base.
On October 24, the Philippines improved its ranking by 29 places in the Ease of Doing Business rankings.

Inflation rate

In July 5, 2018, the inflation rate of the country soared to 5.2%, its highest in 5 years. The inflation rate worsened the impacts of the government's new tax policy, increasing the price of all goods in the country.
In September 2018, the inflation rate of the country further increased to 6.7%, its highest in a decade. President Duterte blamed American president Donald Trump for the inflation increase. Opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan, however, pointed out that if the United States was to blame, then all countries in ASEAN should have been experiencing the same, and only the Philippines had a very high inflation rate in the entire region at that time. On September 21, 2018, Duterte signed Administrative Order No. 13, removing non-tariff barriers in the importation of agricultural products, to address soaring inflation rates.
According to ING, with food prices decreasing, the worst of the inflation crisis is over. Inflation decreased in November 2018, at 5.8 to 6.6 percent. BSP decreased its inflation forecast for 2019, after the passage of the rice tariffication bill.
Inflation further decreased from 6.7 percent in October 2018 to 0.8 percent in October 2019, the lowest inflation rate recorded since May 2016.

Income status

Economic managers predict the accession of the Philippine economy to upper-middle-income status by 2019, citing massive infrastructure spending and robust growth.