| In 2005, the Philippine peso was hailed by Forbes magazine as Asia's best performing currency. The Philippines' 1st quarter GDP growth was within the government's programmed growth of 5.5% buoyed by the rebound of the agriculture sector and a strong service sector performance however, the economy is still vulnerable to high world oil prices and political instability. There are few promising developments though, one is the strong fiscal performance that the government has put in place as well as the mining boom that will generate additional revenues for the government and additional jobs if this sector is fully tapped as The Philippines is one of the mineral-rich countries in the world. The country’s export rose by more than 15 percent in January-April this year, while investments increased by $2 billion over that of the same four-month period last year. |
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