CHENNAI, India—Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the Philippines looks to India as an inspiration in its pursuit of rapid growth anchored on a shift to more market-oriented policies to ensure that its economic expansion is sustainable, inclusive and achieves the government’s ultimate goal of significantly reducing poverty by the end of the Duterte presidency in 2022.

Dominguez said the Philippines and India are similar in the sense that both economies are growing at impressive rates while still having enough headroom to enable this rapid pace of growth to continue, and both have millions of people looking forward to this sustained expansion as a means to help lift themselves from poverty.

Both countries, however, also face the challenging constraints brought about by climate change as well as the social dislocation and polarization of wealth that could emerge from rapid economic development, he said.

“Apart from seeking growth that is sustainable, we have to ensure that it is also inclusive. Rapid development can produce widespread social dislocation. This could lead to stresses and breakdown of the old systems that delivered stability,” Dominguez said before members of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).

The MSSRF is a not-for-profit trust founded by Professor M.S. Swaminathan with proceeds from the First World Food Prize that he received in 1987. It aims to accelerate use of modern science and technology for agricultural and rural development to improve lives and livelihoods of communities.

At the time he received the First World Food Prize, M.S. Swaminathan was the director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in Los Baños, Laguna. He headed the IRRI from 1982 to 1988. Dominguez, who was appointed by then President Corazon Aquino as Minister of Agriculture and Food in 1986, and M.S. Swaminathan, worked closely to establish the Rice Production Enhancement Program, which immensely helped Filipino farmers and the country attain almost 100 percent rice self-sufficiency in 1988.

“I will be forever grateful to Professor M.S. Swaminathan and I am happy to see that his work continues through this research foundation. Indeed, as Mahatma Gandhi once remarked, ‘In a gentle way, you can shake the world.’ In his way, Professor Swaminathan did shake the world, and I have no doubt that this foundation will continue to shake the world,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez recalled that it was Dr. Swaminathan who encouraged him to set up the Philippine Rice Research Institute with the goal of developing a national rice research program that will sustain and further improve the gains already made in rice production, raise the incomes of small rice farmers and expand job opportunities in the countryside.

It was also Dr. Swaminathan who inspired Dominguez to set up the Foundation for Development through Education with his family and friends in Davao City. The finance chief said the foundation, which provides full college scholarships to students from the Islamic community and indigenous peoples’ groups, has benefited around 100 students in the last 18 years.

The appointment of Dr. Bruce Tolentino, an agricultural economist and former IRRI deputy director general to the Monetary Board upon Dominguez’s recommendation was also inspired by Dr. Swaminathan.

“This is the first time you have an agricultural economist who is specializing in rural development sitting in the highest policy-making body for monetary policy in the Philippines. And that, again, is an inspiration of Dr. Swaminathan because we believe that there is no separation between the importance of finance and monetary policy and rural development,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez, who was invited by Dr. Swaminathan to the MSSRF to exchange ideas on development strategies, said economies like India and the Philippines should fashion their growth so that every section of society would have a stake in it, with the goal of building a strong middle class.

“India inspires us with its rapid growth made possible by a shift to a more market-oriented policy. I am sure that in the coming years, there will be even more opportunities for our enterprises and people to interact more intensively and for our bilateral relationship to become even more beneficial to both sides,” Dominguez said.

According to Dominguez, economic development should also be pursued without aggravating the effects of climate change, a goal that poses a great challenge to fast growing economies where consumption is rising, and hence, also the requirements for power, transport systems and manufacturing capacity.

“But they are costs we must assume to bring relief to the marginalized sections of our society, create jobs for the unemployed and assure ample food for our people,” he added.

With these similarities also come significant differences between the development challenges facing the Philippines and India, Dominguez said.

Unlike India with a large but contiguous land mass, the Philippines is an archipelago of over 7,000 islands in need of an efficient logistics system, Dominguez noted.

Hence, the Duterte administration’s economic strategy is to mount an ambitious infrastructure development program to sustain and boost the country’s growth momentum over the medium term and make this growth more inclusive.

“We need an efficient system of ports, airports, rail services and access roads to make sure that every island and every community is included in the mainstream of economic development,” Dominguez said. “A better infrastructure backbone will help us overcome the hindrances posed by being an archipelagic country. It will prevent islands and regions from being left behind as the economy grows,” he added, pointing out that a New Delhi-based company, the GMR Group is among the government’s private sector partners helping modernize airports in the Philippines.

Dominguez said infrastructure investments have the highest multiplier effects on the economy, as it creates jobs, opens new businesses and allows new linkages.

The Philippines’ spending of over $170 billion on infrastructure between now and 2022 goes hand in hand with its comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP), which would provide the steady revenue support needed to make this massive infra buildup possible, Dominguez said.

Apart from CTRP, the government’s 75 high-impact infrastructure projects under the “Build, Build, Build,” program will also be funded through expanded official development assistance (ODA) inflows from the Philippines’ friends in the region, infrastructure investments from multilateral institutions, and Public-Private Partnerships, he said.

He said that by 2022, the government aspires to bring down poverty incidence from the present 22 percent to only 14 percent. “That is the single most important economic measure that will define our success or failure. We stake our legacy on that.”

Dominguez said the government is also working to ensure a safe environment for its citizens by mounting a tough campaign against criminality, particularly against illegal drugs, which has led to a decrease in crime volume by almost 22 percent since the start of the Duterte administration.

Moreover, the Duterte administration is also improving government service and fighting corruption by reducing red tape, increasing the efficiency of frontline agencies including revenue collecting bureaus, and making the government in general more accountable to its citizens.

“We aim to shift our development pattern from being consumption-led to one driven by investments. All our policy reforms are directed at the goal of improving productivity and the ease of doing business,” Dominguez said.

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