ECONOMY. Philippines's economy suffered through mismanagement under the country's late president Marcos who ruled the country under martial law from the 1960s to 1980s. To revive the country's economy, former president Fidel Ramos opened the country to foreign investments in the early 1990s. During Ramos' term in office, foreign investments increased from only US$42 million in 1992 to US$2 billion by 1997. The Philippines weathered the Asian economic crisis of 1997 in much better shape than many other Southeast Asian countries due to the large number of Filipino overseas workers regularly remitting money into the country and low external debt.

Philippines