Digital innovations will spur the Philippines’ economy, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Philippines must leverage digital innovations, including blockchain technology, to spur its economy and stay competitive globally, says the country’s President Ferdinand Romualdez “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., better known as PBBM.

Speaking during the inauguration of an Innovation Campus developed by UnionBank, the president called on the country to take advantage of digital innovations to create new jobs, increase efficiency and boost the economy. With its GDP hitting $450 billion, the Philippines is currently the third largest in Southeast Asia.

“To sustain growth and promote new advances in this sector, it is my hope that you will explore the limitless possibilities, and take advantage of the many bright ideas that our experts have so that we can generate more jobs and secure our nation’s economic revitalization. We would be bereft, we would be neglectful of our duties if we do not recognize the trend that is happening around the world,” PBBM, who took office in late June, commented.

The Philippines has strived to digitize its economy over the past decade. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has been on the frontline, promoting cashless payments to achieve its goal of having at least half of all payments done digitally. Mobile payments have also soared, as has digital asset adoption, with Coins.ph and Maya (formerly Paymaya) setting the pace with the latter.

PBBM singled out blockchain as one of the technologies the Philippines must adopt, alongside artificial intelligence and data analytics.

“It is the only way that we will be doing business in the years to come and therefore, we cannot allow the Philippines to get left behind,” he noted.

PBBM has been calling for digital innovation ever since he took office. In his first-ever state of the nation address, he called for the adoption of breakthrough technologies to “radically transform the way business is done.”

The president’s rallying call comes just weeks after the BSP revealed that two more digital banks had commenced operations in the country, bringing the total number to six.

Watch: The BSV Global Blockchain Convention panel, Blockchain for Digital Transformation of Nations