The government must strengthen its strategies to be able to fully enjoy the benefits of trade liberalization, according to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). “The paper aims to review our trade liberalization policy and its contribution to the country`s industrial growth and performance,” PIDS Senior Research Fellow Rafaelita Aldaba said in the research study. Aldaba emphasized that the overall performance of the country`s manufacturing industry has been weak, and growth has been slow and contribution to value added and employment has been limited. She added that total factor productivity growth declined from 1996 to 2006, while the industrial structure has remained “hollow” or “missing” in the middle, and medium enterprises have never seriously challenged the large entrenched incumbents or companies.
