TAG: Economy
Underpinning President Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016 campaign was a pledge to pursue constitutional change in the form of a federal political system. This issue is quite divisive, and it remains unclear whether lawmakers will enact constitutional change. However, a plurality (43%) of CEOs who participated in the latest OBG Business Barometer: Philippines CEO Survey say a switch to a federal system or the empowerment of local government units would be advantageous or very advantageous to the country’s economic development, against 40% who think this would be disadvantageous or very disadvantageous.
Before his election to the highest office in the land in mid-2016, President Rodrigo Duterte presented himself as an agent of change, the political outsider based in marginalised Mindanao who would shake up a political system historically dominated by powerful family dynasties.
With the Argentine peso in free fall, the beginning of May was a tumultuous time for the country. Even though the central bank continued to sell its reserves and raise interest rates, the depreciation of the currency appeared unstoppable.