page_title: Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte
section_title: Economic policy
hierarchical_section_title: Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte / Economic policy
caption_attribution_description: English: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaking at the World Economic Forum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 11, 2017.
context_page_description: The presidency of Rodrigo Duterte began at noontime of June 30, 2016 following his inauguration as the 16th President of the Philippines, succeeding Benigno Aquino III. His term is expected to end at noontime of June 30, 2022.
  Duterte is the first president from Mindanao and the oldest person to be elected president of the Philippines. He is also the first Philippine president to have worked in the three branches of the government. Duterte was the mayor of Davao City at the time of his 2016 presidential election victory, garnering over 16 million votes or about 39% of total votes, beating his closest rival by over 6.6 million votes. Duterte's approval rating has been relatively high throughout his presidency despite criticism and international opposition to his anti-narcotics drive.
  Duterte started a nationwide campaign to rid the country of crime, and corruption, and illegal drugs. The war on drugs saw about 6,600 persons linked to the illegal drug trade killed as of July 2019. Duterte campaigned to restore the death penalty in the Philippines. However, the law reinstating the death penalty stalled in the Senate in April 2017, where it did not appear to have enough votes to pass.
context_section_description: Early in his term, Duterte's expletive-laden outbursts triggered the biggest exodus from stocks in a year and made the peso Asia's worst performer in September 2016. The Philippine currency was at a seven-year low and rounding out its worst month since May 2010. In the same month, the Philippine peso completed its biggest monthly decline since October 2000 amid the biggest outflow from the nation's stocks in a year. According to the Philippines' Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the peso's slump this year is "mainly due to a deteriorating trade outlook because of rising imports of capital goods, which is normal for a country that is growing very fast". Currency strategists have, however, "predicted a rebound once investors see beyond Duterte's words".
  After 100 days in office, former president Ramos, a political ally-mentor of Duterte said that "Duterte has been a huge disappointment and letdown" and "the government was losing badly by prioritizing a war on drugs at the expense of issues like poverty, living costs, foreign investment, and jobs". Based on subsequent surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations,  optimism in the economic prospects under the Duterte administration remains "excellent" with more Filipinos believing that the quality of their lives will improve in the next 12 months. This is supported by polls conducted by Pulse Asia one year after Duterte took office, wherein approval (82%) and trust (81%) ratings for Duterte still remain very high.
  On November 2, 2018, the Philippines slipped 11 places from the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business rankings. The Department of Finance is demanding a correction from the World Bank, citing the smaller data set used to assess the country's credit base.
  In September 2018, the inflation rate of the country skyrocketed to 6.7%, its highest in a decade. On September 21, 2018, Duterte signed Administrative Order No. 13, removing non-tariff barriers in the importation of agricultural products, to address soaring inflation rates. Inflation decreased in November 2018, at 5.8 to 6.6 percent.  BSP decreased its inflation forecast for 2019, after the passage of the rice tariffication bill. Inflation further decreased from 6.7 percent in October 2018 to 0.8 percent in October 2019, the lowest inflation rate recorded since May 2016.
caption: Duterte speaking at the World Economic Forum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 11, 2017
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