Are we heading for economic take-off?

World Bank says it's possible by 2010 . . but government should heed this prescription: "restore the country's international credibility by sending a strong policy signal" that will improve the climate for business and investments. Mr. von Armsberg, World Bank country representive urged the government to follow the rule of law, enforce contracts, pursue deregulation, and reduce transaction costs and red tape.

As it stands now, the Philippines is at the tail end (buntot) behind its ASEAN neighbors in attracting foreign direct investments (FDI). Of the $37.14 B FDI that went to Southeast Asia, last year, the Philippines garnered only a measly $1.13 B, Vietnam took $2 B, while Thailand and Malaysia $4 B each. The oftenly repeated litany of investment constraints attributing to this measly performance are: macroeconomic instability, corruption, poor electricity, high tax rates, uncertain regulatory policies, crime, and stringent labor laws.

To top it all, here's some mind-boggling yet real statistics: our average GDP annual growth is a little over 1% between 1966 to 2004, while the rest of East Asia was at nearly 6%. Our economic growth is fuelled mainly by OFW remittances and household consumption rather than by investment and productivity. We are Asia's second most active issuer of sovereign debt after Japan. Wow! "Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt." We ranked number 83 in Human Development Index (HDI) with a score of .753. The World Competitiveness Yearbook ranks us 61st in the provision for basic infrastructures; 57th in Education; and 53rd in health services - out of 61 countries. Need to know more? The 2006 World Economic Forum report places the Philippines 77th in terms of competitiveness, while the International Finance Corporation put us 126th out of 175 countries in being business friendly. Singapore is No. 1, Malaysia and Thailand - 18th and 25th, respectively.

Let's not be carried away by negativism and desperation. Our consolation - we still retain the distinction as the texting capital of the world with an average of 1-B SMS a day. We have 28-M mobile phone subscribers, 96% of which use prepaid cards. Most recently, the Britain-based New Economic Foundation places us as the 17th "Happiest country" in the world.