Palace dismisses research consultancy’s comment on Duterte leadership

Malacañang on Thursday disputed a report by a London-based economic research consultancy saying that President Rodrigo Duterte's leadership style may put off investors and dampen growth prospects of the country.

"Sorry, for the past two years, we’ve been the second fastest-growing economy in Asia," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters.

"We have been number one in manufacturing and we have had recorded number of foreign investments. So the criticism is not supported [by] what has been happening in the country."

According to the report by Capital Economics, Duterte "has not been the disaster for the economy that some feared" given the continued expansion and number of "sensible" reforms crafted by his economic managers.

However, Duterte's "erratic" and "crass" style of governance is allegedly showing signs of discouraging investors.

“Since Duterte came to power, the stock market has underperformed, inflows into the country’s equity market have dropped, while pledges of foreign direct investment have fallen,” Capital Economics said.

Duterte took his oath of office as the 16th President of the Philippines on June 30, 2016. At that time the bellwether PSEi closed at 7,796.25.

Since then, the PSEi has lost 619.82 points or 7.95 percent as it closed at 7,176.43 on Wednesday. — BM, GMA News