From bad to worse. That’s how the Philippine economy will fare in 2009 as the effects of the global financial crisis become more pronounced, experts say.
By worse, they mean a negative spiral of low consumer spending and dwindling demand that will eventually lead to more production cuts and job layoffs, and then greater poverty.
In other parts of the world, the country’s major trading partners have already succumbed to the financial crisis and slipped into recession.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on Wednesday urged the country to pull together to weather ongoing economic “storms” from a global financial crisis that has likely stifled its growth.
“The year 2008 was tumultuous for the world due to the global economic recession that, thankfully, has not become a crisis in the Philippines,” she said in a written New Year’s message to the nation.
However, looking ahead to 2009 she stressed that the difficulties were not over. “I hope that we can all work together as a global community to weather these storms,” she said.
