Metro Manila is the ninth most dynamic city in the world, according to an article in The Atlantic, citing data from Brookings' Global MetroMonitor on economic output and employment in 150 of the world's largest metropolitan economies from 1993 to 2010.
"Healthy tourism and demand for IT products helped Manila crack the top ten, in Brookings' rankings for the first time," wrote The Atlantic associate editor Derek Thompson. The list is based on income growth and employment as reported by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and London School of Economics (LSE) cities.
Istanbul topped this year's list, which is dominated by cities from Southeast Asia and Latin America. Also in the top ten are Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (10th), Beijing, China (8th), Guangzhou, China (7th), Shanghai, China (6th), Santiago, Chile (5th), Singapore (4th), Lima, Peru (3rd), and Shenzhen, China (2nd).
Thompson noted there are no European cities in the top thirty, and no African cities outside Egypt in the top fifty. He also noted other trends emerging in the report, such as port cities with large trade sectors dominating, "due to their ability to put products in the hands of the world's healthier economies.
According to him, the Philippines "depends so heavily on remittances of Filipino workers that a 7-percent boost in mailed cash this year dramatically improved the country's economic projections for 2010."
Around 32.7 percent of the national GDP is from Metro Manila, with employment increasing 4.0 percent and income increasing 5.3 percent from 2009 to 2010, as shown in the Brookings report.
Metro Manila ranked 24th and 34th in previous years, according to the same report.
Last seen on the list of worst cities to drive in, it isn't often that the Metropolis finds itself on a positive list. However, Thompson warns that dynamism is a sword that cuts both ways.
"The key challenge for top emerging cities entering a period of global expansion is to expand to other industries. This helps them stay both dynamic and diversified – fast-growing and safe-growing," he writes.
Early this month, President Benigno Aquino III ordered the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to allocate a P1-billion “reintegration fund" from which OFWs may borrow to finance the start up of their own businesses.
“Una pa rin po sa ating listahan ang paglikha ng disenteng trabaho at oportunidad dito sa sarili nating bayan (Still on top of our list is the creation of decent jobs and opportunities here in our own country)," said the president in an earlier report. — LBG/TJD, GMANews.TV
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