High interest rates and lack of liquidity are throttling businesses. Infrastructure and other spending programs will increase. The country is trying to buy needed crude oil on credit from West Asian allies. Spared the worst of the crisis because it has less foreign and domestic debt than its neighbors, the Philippines nevertheless is being knocked about. A million farm workers lost jobs in the first four months of 1998.
Manufacturers export mainly to the West and have avoided some Asia-related setbacks.
Interest rates remain in the high teens. That may not be enough to offset declining manufacturing and financial services sectors, hard hit by the dramatic falloff in demand from neighbors, especially Indonesia. Electronics exports are dragging. Some analysts say recession has already begun and could last through 1999. The unstable yen is keeping pressure on the Singapore dollar and interest rates.