Last Tuesday, The Manila Times held another online business forum — our third since the Wuhan Virus obliged us to embrace the “online” format — this time exploring the topic of “Malling in the New Normal.” While I can appreciate the intentions and efforts of this particular segment of the economy, the discussion, I believe, revealed a certain disconnect between objectives and reality.
As my good friend and fellow columnist Stephen CuUnjieng pointed out in his commentary on Friday, the mall sector is a good indicator to watch in order to get a sense of where the overall economy is going, particularly in the Philippines. The performance of the mall sector comprises significant segments of consumer spending, retail business and real estate. Malls are probably not a decisive indicator, but it is also probably fair to conclude that the performance of the sector generally correlates to the overall performance of the economy, up or down.