ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS A FUNCTION OF GOOD GOVERNANCE By: Dindo Manhit - @inquirerdotnet Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:10 AM August 02, 2023
We should have learned the painful lesson by now: Genuine, inclusive, and sustainable economic development is only possible when a nation is governed well.
We should no longer be fooled into thinking that as long as there were nominal economic improvements, some corruption in government could be tolerated. We should no longer succumb to the fatalistic thinking that corruption is reality that could never be fully eradicated.
…Good governance is possible if a country’s leaders are sincere, able, and resolute, and if various stakeholders commit to hold their officials accountable for their promises and pronouncements.
A Stratbase-commissioned survey by Pulse Asia held in June 2023 found that…Sixty-two percent of Filipinos are…aware that controlling corruption will help boost economic recovery and improve the plight of ordinary citizens.
Thus, Filipinos may be used to hearing about corrupt acts in government, but it does not mean that they are clueless about its consequences or that they are willing to simply accept and tolerate it. They know that something can be done about it. Our political institutions can be reformed and cleansed so that they would inspire confidence not only among the people, but also among businesses and investors.
…The government must ensure that it establishes and maintains the right environment to attract investors and actively collaborates with the private sector, both domestic and foreign. Among the simple desires that we hear from them are transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and stable policy environment. We cannot eradicate corruption, but we should persist in controlling corruption.
…We could listen to promises, but more importantly we should keep track of the concrete steps that the government is taking to improve the way it is doing its job. Only these would convince us that we could slowly build back trust in our institutions and will make businesses decide to invest and stay here for the long haul.
Dindo Manhit is founder and CEO of the Stratbase Group.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS A FUNCTION OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
ReplyDeleteBy: Dindo Manhit - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:10 AM August 02, 2023
We should have learned the painful lesson by now: Genuine, inclusive, and sustainable economic development is only possible when a nation is governed well.
We should no longer be fooled into thinking that as long as there were nominal economic improvements, some corruption in government could be tolerated. We should no longer succumb to the fatalistic thinking that corruption is reality that could never be fully eradicated.
…Good governance is possible if a country’s leaders are sincere, able, and resolute, and if various stakeholders commit to hold their officials accountable for their promises and pronouncements.
A Stratbase-commissioned survey by Pulse Asia held in June 2023 found that…Sixty-two percent of Filipinos are…aware that controlling corruption will help boost economic recovery and improve the plight of ordinary citizens.
Thus, Filipinos may be used to hearing about corrupt acts in government, but it does not mean that they are clueless about its consequences or that they are willing to simply accept and tolerate it. They know that something can be done about it. Our political institutions can be reformed and cleansed so that they would inspire confidence not only among the people, but also among businesses and investors.
…The government must ensure that it establishes and maintains the right environment to attract investors and actively collaborates with the private sector, both domestic and foreign. Among the simple desires that we hear from them are transparency, accountability, responsiveness, and stable policy environment. We cannot eradicate corruption, but we should persist in controlling corruption.
…We could listen to promises, but more importantly we should keep track of the concrete steps that the government is taking to improve the way it is doing its job. Only these would convince us that we could slowly build back trust in our institutions and will make businesses decide to invest and stay here for the long haul.
Dindo Manhit is founder and CEO of the Stratbase Group.
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/165243/economic-devt-as-function-of-good-governance#ixzz8APsJfhQ4
Good governance is great economics. We’ve got to keep plugging away.
Gonzalinho