56th Annual Meeting and Conference

Founded in 1962, the Philippine Economic Society (PES) is a nonstock, nonprofit association of economists in the Philippines. The PES seeks to attain the following objectives: (1) to foster and encourage professional and social relations among economists in the Philippines; and (2) to improve the standards of economic research and instruction in the Philippines. Over the years, the Society has served as one of the strongest networks of economists in the academe, government, and business sector. The PES continuously provides a venue for open and free discussion of a wide variety of policy issues through its conferences and fora.

The 56th PES Annual Meeting and Conference

As an integral part of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the Philippines has two remarkably robust anchors—a booming domestic economy and a dynamic ASEAN bloc, both of which are necessary to propel the Philippines as a regional economic powerhouse.

In 2016, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) launched the Ambisyon Natin 2040. One of its main objectives is to triple the per capita income over a period of 25 years. The Philippines, however, has yet to join the High Growth Economy Club. Membership into this club will be a truly unprecedented feat that will require a decade of 7% annual growth.

With the implementation of promising and far-reaching fiscal, monetary, and regulatory reforms, there is potential that the Philippines can sustain high growth performance by staying on the correct reform path, managing policy expectations, and learning from high growth economies. Policy spaces can be created through proper reform sequencing, heightened macroeconomic surveillance, and policy coherence and coordination.  Regional institutions within ASEAN can help mitigate adverse external shocks through robust intra-ASEAN trade, integrated domestic and regional capital market structures, and sustained policy coordination among policymakers.

It is in the above context that the 56th Annual Meeting and Conference of the Philippine Economic Society is framed with a theme on Towards a High Growth Economy in the ASEAN: Managing Expectations, Creating Policy Spaces, and Sustaining Reforms.

Post Conference Update:

More than 300 participants from the academe, government, and private sector joined the 56th Annual Meeting and Conference of the Philippine Economic Society on 08 November 2018 at the Novotel Manila. The conference theme was "Towards a High Growth Economy in the ASEAN: Managing Expectations, Creating Policy Spaces, and Sustaining Reforms." The conference featured three plenary sessions and 21 parallel sessions delving on various topics in economics and development. The keynote presentation, titled "The Philippine Economy: No Longer the East Asian Exception?," was given by Dr. Hal Hill, Professor Emeritus of the Australian National University. #PESCon2018