Marcos confident of economic growth due to Philippines’ ‘sophisticated workforce’

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. is confident that the Philippine economy will experience growth because of the country's workforce.

"The reason that I’m so confident about that is because we have this workforce, we have a very, very good workforce in the Philippines," Marcos told World Economic Forum president Børge Brende in Davos.

"We have the youngest workforce in Asia. You might be surprise to know, to learn that the average age of Filipino worker is 23 and a half years old. So that is a huge demographic dividend," he added.

The President said this demographic dividend should be developed, noting that his administration has concentrated on "upskilling and reskilling."

"But again, the raw material in terms of our workforce is very, very advantageous. Our workforce is well-trained, our workforce sophisticated, very --- and English-speaking, a quite --- in terms of technology I would say that we are on equal footing as any other country," he explained.

"So that is where is my confidence comes from and that is the confidence that I hope to exude sufficiently to bring that confidence also to all of you and all of our potential partners in the world," he added.

In the same interview, Brende mentioned that the "Philippines is the fastest growing of the ASEAN countries."

Marcos attributed the growth to the micro small medium enterprises (MSMEs) "because that comprises such a large part of our economy and it’s the same in most ASEAN countries." — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA Integrated News