President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday reassured the local and international investment community that her administration will not waver in its reform agenda and that it will act responsibly in the face of global challenges to the country's economy.

The government "will stay the course and has a plan for the future," the President said in her address during the opening the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) meeting in Malacanang. "We will continue on the path of economic reform," she said, referring to her administration's comprehensive strategies which she spelled out in her State of the National Address (SONA) last year. "Our reforms to date have helped us in this time of global economic upheaval. Without them, we would not be as confident as we are that our economy will withstand these external shocks," she said. The President said her administration will remain vigilant against new challenges to the economy as "we must maintain the fiscally prudent policies that have given us the strength to weather this global storm." The NCC meeting was a followup to the first National Innovation Summit held on Nov. 26, 2007 to come up with the building blocks needed to speed up national innovation strategies and faster and higher growth across industries. The President added that her administration is "doing everything in our power to focus on the fundamentals, keep the economy steady, and to provide relief for those most in need," pointing out that "the best buffer we have to external vulnerability is our own domestic, internal strength." "Building a stronger, healthier economy driven by domestic consumption and investment, and relying less on external markets is exactly what our reform agenda is about," she said. The administration's five comprehensive strategies for global competitiveness are: (1) plentiful and affordable food to keep our labor cost globally competitive; (2) reduced cost of electricity to make our factories regionally competitive; (3) modernized infrastructure to efficiently transport goods and people; (4) upgraded knowledge and technologies disseminated for productivity; and (5) reduced red tape to cut business costs. She admitted that the government's economic team has been challenged by the unprecedented surge in the price of crude oil in the global market by as much as 44 percent, and that of rice by 43 percent over the past year. The President said, however, that the economic team is "doing its best on all fronts to manage inflationary pressures, provide a safety net to those members of our society who are hit hardest by these global developments, and deliver the economic growth that will continue to generate jobs."