Economic problems of the Philippines are very similar to those being battled by other underdeveloped and developing nations. After a long tryst with colonization, the nation is now grappling with increased imports and a mixed economy that is still to stabilize.
The Republic of the Philippines is located in Southeast Asia and Manila is its capital city. The country comprises 7,107 islands and ranks as the 12th most populous country in the world. Like most other southeast Asian regions, the Philippines too has a history of European colonization. It was a colony of Spain and the USA. The country is now home to multiple cultures and traditional ethnicity. It is also looked upon as a perfect example of a 'mixed economy'. Industrialization is a new development in the Philippines. Traditionally, the economy stabilized on the agrarian contributions and the manufacture of garments, pharmaceutical products and semiconductors. In the last decade, electronic exports added to the exports, including various products obtained by mining.
The economy of the nation also largely depends on the remittances from Filipinos residing overseas and investing in the homeland. However, exports are not evenly balanced by the imports that include heavy electronics, garments, various raw materials, intermediate goods and fuel. The influence of the Manila galleon on the nation's economy during the Spanish period, and bilateral trade when the country was a colony of the United States has resulted in the preference of a mixed economy over a centrally planned or market based one. It is very important to understand the shift during the Ferdinand Marcos leadership, from a market economy to a centrally planned economy, to relate to the economic recession that the country is now facing. With adverse global trends and the world economy entering a protracted depression, in 2011, the Philippines faced another economic downturn. The country's lack of internal