Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo

Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo

Birth:April 5, 1947

Place:San Juan, Philippines

She is the second female president of the Philippines, after President Corazon Cojuanco Aquino and the first female vice-president of the country. She is the daughter of former Philippine president Diosdado Macapagal and his second wife, Evangelina Macapagal.

Economic achievement of the Arroyo Administration

A controversial expanded value added tax law, considered the centerpiece of the Arroyo administration's economic reform agenda, was implemented in November 2005, aiming to complement revenue-raising efforts that could plug the country's large budget deficit. The country aims to balance the national budget by 2010. The tax measure boosted confidence in the government's fiscal capacity and helped to strengthen the Philippine peso, making it East Asia's best performing currency in 2005-06. The peso strengthened by nearly 20% in 2007, making it by far Asia's best performing currency for the year, a fact attributed to a combination of increased remittances from overseas filipino workers and a strong domestic economy.
Annual inflation reached the 17-year high of 12.5 percent in August 2008, up from a record low of 2.8 percent registered in 2007. It eased to 8.8 percent in December 2008 as fuel and energy prices went down.

She strengthened economic relation with the United States and Japan. Uplift the economy through information and communication technology. She developed the agricultural sector, through the acceptance of farmlands as loan collateral. Adopted a long term structural program through Build-operate-and-Transfer Law