BBM economic vision excites private sector

ZURICH, Switzerland — Sabin Aboitiz, president and chief executive officer of the Aboitiz Group, lauded President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for laying down before the international community the Philippines’ economic vision.

Marcos’ “economic vision for the country excites the private sector,” Aboitiz said.

The lead convenor of the Private Sector Advisory Council, Sabin was one of the seven Filipino tycoons who joined the President’s delegation at the World Economic Forum which ended yesterday in Davos, Switzerland.

Along with Aboitiz were his fellow captains of industry Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala of the Ayala Group, Kevin Andrew Tan of Alliance Global, Lance Gokongwei of JG Summit Holdings, Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp., Teresita Sy-Coson of SM Investments, and Enrique Razon of International Container Terminal.

So when you have that dual type of respect for each other, it excites people and the President’s belief in the private sector is very strong,” said Aboitiz.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the President showed to the global community that the Philippines has a “fundamentally sound economy.”

Diokno described Marcos’ presentation at the WEF as “path-breaking.”

“The President successfully pictured to the international community an economy that is fundamentally sound and is expected to have one of the highest growth rates in the Asia Pacific region, if not the world,” he said.

Marcos touted his technocrats’ projection of economic growth hitting 6.5 or 7 percent or even more in 2023, the highest among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The projection is also one of the highest in the Asia-Pacific region marked by prudent fiscal policies and strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

The President said at the Philippine Country Strategy Dialogue that there are “signs that we might be able to surpass that,” referring to the gross domestic product forecast.