MSME Empowerment: A Key to Philippine Economic Recovery

Abstract

Most business establishments in the Philippines are MSMEs. The basis for writing this article to examine the empowerment of MSMEs as a key to Philippine economic recovery. The present study addresses the gap and limitations in similar studies made in the Philippines through a thorough review of articles and publications relative to the contribution of MSMEs to the economic recovery of ASEAN countries. This paper was sourced from secondary data with a literature review approach. Previous research was used as benchmark to write and analyze the present study.  The present study, applying the foregoing review to the context of Philippine economy, revealed that there had been major downturns in the MSME sector when pre-pandemic data and pandemic data were compared. This suggests that the pandemic adversely affected the MSME sector regardless of the industry it belongs to. The present study also denotes that no matter how resilient the Filipinos are known to be, when a global health crisis ensues, there is a possibility that no business can be marked safe from incurring losses and worse, recede and worst, close. However, with the assistance of the government and the MSMEs’ willingness to cooperate, there is nothing to lose but everything to gain, especially for public welfare and economic development. The present study also noted that not only do these MSMEs help attain the SDGs but can also pivot any country towards a prosperous future. A similar study could be conducted in the future to investigate MSME empowerment in a broader context, such as other development strategies. Other studies may also be conducted to investigate the effect of MSME empowerment on the economy of other countries. Future researchers may also consider another variable such as but not limited to MSME resiliency.