Feeling the Economic Boom

Despite all the great news we have been hearing this past few weeks on how our peso is gaining ground against the dollar and the historic highs of the Philippine Stock Exchange, I cant help but wonder why haven’t I felt its effects yet on my pocket? The peso to dollar exchange rate has already breached the 45 pesos to a dollar level as of writing. Good news for our country's economy. But the BIG question is are we feeling its effects? The peso has been constantly gaining ground against the dollar since December of 2005 but the price of basic commodities are basically the same? Oil and gas prices are not falling as fast as we would like it to be and the opposite is actually happening as gas prices are going up again. Is it because elections are over? Oil and gas is especially important because lower prices for these two will have a snowball effect on prices of commodities and transportation fares. Jeepney
drivers are now demanding a fare increase back to the minimum of 7.50. Even if world oil prices are rising, a stronger peso should lessen the impact.

Another indicator that the economy is doing well is the stock market as the key index has already climbed to historic highs which is good news because there will be lots of money pouring in from foreign investors as well as local players. But aside from investors who will profit from a robust stock market, when will the benefits trickle down to us average consumers. A strong peso and a robust sock market looks very good on paper, but when it comes to actually being felt by the consumers it is another story. I am tempted to say that you can’t eat a GNP growth statistic or a 3500-point stock market index, but I know that it does have a profound effect on our economy that will benefit us in the long term. But for the meanwhile, I hope prices of basic commodities and utilities will go down for all of us to fully enjoy the benefits of an economy that is finally moving forward.