The US government has a negative assessment of the Philippine economy
Just three days after US President George W. Bush visited the Philippines, the US State Department issued a negative assessment of the Philippine economy. It is indicative of the depth of the economic crisis that even US imperialism could not deny its existence despite the superficiality of its analysis of the crisis. It also indicates the US' desire to push the further liberalization of the economy.
According to the Philippine Economic Outlook which the US embassy regularly issues every semester, prospects of significant economic growth in 2004 are dim.
Aside from the government's fiscal weakness and its heavy debt burden, the report says that potential foreign investors, tourists and others continue to remain concerned about the high crime rate, inadequate infrastructure and corruption. Macapagal-Arroyo is said to have likewise done little to alleviate poverty or fight corruption.
Aside from the coup d'�tat in July, among the factors that have produced an air of uncertainty and overshadowed whatever "progress" the economy has attained are the corruption cases against First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo.
Nonetheless, these reasons are quite superficial and fail to point to the biggest factor behind the crisis�US imperialism's continued exploitation of the Philippines' backward economy, which has condemned the country to a state of permanent crisis.
No less than the data contained in the report state that zero economic growth is expected in 2004 because the P864.8 billion national budget, which represents a 6.6% increase will be offset both by a 4-5% inflation rate and a 2.36% population growth.
This has the Arroyo regime extremely distraught since increasing the budget would only swell the deficit which has already come to P29.1 billion for the month of September, the highest since March. Government expenses for August and September exceeded the target by about P10 billion each month.
As expected, the Arroyo regime protested the US embassy's assessment, causing the US to withdraw its report after two days and issue a revised document. The new version of the Philippine Economic Outlook reduced the negative conclusions of the first document. But with the same data presented, the basis for the first assessment remains.
Meanwhile, in a separate report, the US and the AFP declared the AFP's inability to fight the country's "internal security threats" effectively. According to the Joint Defense Assessment made by the US Pacific Command and the AFP, the latter has a limited capacity to launch timely and effective military operations. It called the AFP organization "disjointed and dysfunctional."
Brandishing this report, the puppet Arroyo regime immediately recommended the resumption in Sulu of the aborted Balikatan 03-1. The military training exercise was withdrawn earlier this year because of massive protests against the US' insistence on having American soldiers accompany AFP combat operations. US imperialism is also using this as a pretext to provide more military aid to the Philippines.
| 
