Impact of the global economic crisis: current situation and outlook in the PhilippinesAsia in general has not been affected by the current global financial crisis (1). The source of the crisis does not come from developing countries as we saw in the 1990s during the Asian crisis. In 2008-2009, the developed world triggered the global financial crisis with the implosion of subprime lending; so it affected the rest of the world. The Philippines in particular did not fall into a recession since banks were not exposed to toxic assets as seen in European banks and other developed countries. Despite the disaster in global trade and credit markets that affected commerce in the Philippines, the large volume of remittances from overseas Filipino workers and migrants helped ease the crisis. Additionally, the Philippines had a huge balance of payments surplus due to banking reforms implemented after the Asian financial crisis. In addition, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) exchange agreement under the Chang Mai Initiative, with a foreign exchange reserve of approximately 2 billion US dollars, was available to the Philippines and the region; but there was no need to use it (2). Looking through the prism of the World Bank. The Philippines can sustain pro-poor growth over the next decade and emerge stronger from the global crisis through deeper structural reform. The World Bank projects that the Philippines will grow by 3.5 percent in 2010 and 3.8 percent in 2011, due to increased remittances from overseas Filipino workers and increased public spending. If the Philippines can overcome the challenges of its ongoing bottlenecks (poor investment climate, reduced infrastructure spending), higher growth...... middle of paper ..... .s to improve the country's competitiveness in the Southeast Asian region. As we saw in the first quarter of 2010, growth is accelerating. However, it is essential to focus on improving business efficiency (i.e. reducing the cost of doing business) and on critical infrastructure, including health, education, environment and technology. Additionally, given that tax collection efforts are substandard, a substantial improvement in the revenue collection system will raise funds for critical infrastructure and public investments. As recommended by the IMF, better revenue collection combined with improved regulation, reduced cost of doing business, investments will increase, employment opportunities will be available and development will accelerate (7). Therefore, all these elements together would enable the Philippines to develop at the same rate as its neighboring countries in Southeast Asia..