Cebu should improve its infrastructure and ease traffic congestion if it wants to stay ahead of the competition, economist Dr. Bernardo Villegas said.
“Iloilo is going to steal your thunder if you don’t improve your infrastructure,” he told businessmen attending the Mandaue Business Summit.
He said businesses may opt to transfer to other growing cities, such as Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Dumaguete, if the traffic situation in Cebu will become as bad as that in Manila.
Villegas, who has advised five Philippine presidents, also said the Philippines is more politically and economically stable than its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), but government must invest in infrastructure to sustain progress.
“The greatest responsibility of the state is to make sure infrastructure is always ahead of progress. We are always catching up (to infrastructure), if at all,” he said.
In the most recent Global Competitive index (GCI), Villegas said the Philippines was ranked 52nd out of 144 participating countries.
He projected that even before President Benigno Aquino III steps down next year, the country’s GCI will surpass that of Thailand and Indonesia.
The Philippines still has the highest poverty incidence in Southeast Asia at 25 percent.
The country also has a low rate of investment contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) at 19 percent.
Regardless of the outcome of the presidential elections next year, however, Villegas said the Philippine economy will continue to grow at 6 to 7-percent in the next 20 years.
He said investors should not put on hold their businesses and investments.
“International agencies are singling the Philippines out as a growth performer. It is cited as one of the countries with the highest growth rates in the world. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Philippines is the new Tiger of Asia,” he said.