Although overlooked by the world, the Philippines is still cheap and cheerful.
Most of the Philippines is laidback, stable and relatively safe. The locals are an exceptionally helpful bunch and there are fantastic reefs and fish. On top of this, transport is cheap, the food is good, accommodation is plentiful and (for the monolinguistic) English is widely spoken.
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic nation located in Southeast Asia, with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, bordering countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau and the Republic of China with a total land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometers (116,000 sq mi). It lies between 116° 40' and 126° 34' E. longitude, and 4° 40' and 21° 10' N. latitude, and borders the Philippine Sea on the east, on the South China Sea the west, and the Celebes Sea on the south. The island of Borneo lies a few hundred kilometers southwest and Taiwan directly north. The Moluccas and Sulawesi are to the south, and Palau is to the east beyond the Philippine Sea.
The islands are commonly divided into three island groups: Luzon (Regions I to V, NCR and CAR), Visayas (VI to VIII), and Mindanao (IX to XIII and ARMM). The busy port of Manila, on Luzon, is the national capital and second largest city after its suburb Quezon City.
The local climate is hot, humid, and tropical. The average yearly temperature is around 26.5 ° C (79.7 ° F). There are three recognized seasons: Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or summer from March to May), Tag-ulan (the rainy season from June to November), and Taglamig (the cold season from December to February). The southwest monsoon (May-October) is known as the "habagat" and the dry winds of the northeast monsoon (November-April) as the "amihan". [20] The country itself is undergoing desertification in place like Sorsogon, Baguio, Davao and the Sierra Madre mountain range.
The Philippines is a newly industrialized country. It began to boom rapidly in the late 1950's to late 1960's. Philippines became an immense floating factory together with Japan but then dramatically fell in the early 1970's due to mismanagement and corrupt practices of the Marcos regime and martial law. Perceptions of political instability during the Aquino administration further dampened economic activity. It has also been listed in " Next Eleven" economies. The Philippines has one of the most vibrant business process outsourcing (BPO) industries in Asia, including Fortune 500 companies. [23]
The Asian Financial Crisis affected the Philippine economy tremendously, making the Philippine peso fall significantly from 26 pesos to a dollar prior to the crisis, then 40 pesos to a dollar at the end of it. Low foreign fund inflows and its agriculture-based economy catapulted the country to grow 3% in 1999 and 4% in 2000. Hampered by political uncertainties in 2000, the peso weakened even further, trading at 55 pesos to a dollar at the lowest.
By 2004, the Philippine economy experienced a 6% growth after the East Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pledged to turn the country into a First World state by 2020. In 2005, the Philippine peso was dubbed as Asia's best-performing currency. In 2006, the Philippine economy expanded at a rate of 5.4%, higher than of the previous year. The government plans to accelerate the country's GDP growth by 7% in 2007, 8% in 2008 and 9% by 2009, also known as the 7, 8, 9 project.
Strategies for streamlining the economy include improvements of infrastructure, more efficient tax systems to bolster government revenues, furthering deregulation and privatization of the economy, and increasing trade integration within the region and across the world.
The Philippines still remains highly reliant on remittances by Overseas Filipinos. In 2006, the country received $12.8 billion, a 20% increase from the previous year. The government estimated that $14 billion would be remitted to the Philippines in 2007. Remittances remain as the largest source of foreign income, surpassing the annual average of $2.5 billion foreign direct investment to the country.
Despite the growing economy, the Philippines will have to address several chronic problems in the future. Income inequality remains persistent; about 30 million people lived on less than $2 per day in 2005. China and India have emerged as major economic competitors, siphoning away investors who would otherwise have invested in the Philippines, particularly telecommunication companies. Regional development is also somewhat uneven, with the main island Luzon and Metro Manila gaining most of the new economic growth at the expense of the other regions.
The Philippines is a member of the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Colombo Plan, and the G-77, among others
In the second quarter of 2007, the Philippine economy grew as much as 7.5% and was the fastest for more than 2 decades. So far, the economy has grown 7.3% this year.
The primary local stock market index, operated by the Philippine Stock Exchange, also hit a record high in June 1, 2007 while the Philippine peso is trading at around the PHP41 level to a US dollar, and is currently PHP40.92 as of December 02, 2007 making it Asia's best performing currency for 2007 by sharply appreciating by 20% .