ABSTRACT
The East Asian miracle of the 1960s up to the mid-1990s and the East Asian debacle in 1997 put in perspective two crucial factors that affect sustainable economic growth and development. The first factor is outward orientation, which is a necessary ingredient for increasing the competitiveness of an economy, and the second is a sound financial structure that is required for efficient resource allocation and macroeconomic stability. The primary objective of this chapter, is to analyse how these two factors interact with each other, i.e. how the level of financial development affected the evolution of the Philippine current account. Of particular concern is the trade sector, with emphasis on the dynamics of competitiveness and the pattern of exports in the Philippine manufacturing sector.
