Philippines Soon to Become Economic Heavyweight of Asia

The Philippine economy is forecasted to expand significantly over the next fifteen years to become one of Southeast Asia’s heavyweights, fueled by a growing middle class and an invigorated manufacturing sector.

Think tank IHS Global said that the government’s business-friendly policies would lead to higher levels of investment, helping create more jobs and raise incomes in the country.

Over the next five years, gross domestic product (GDP) growth may average 5.5 percent, forecasts showed. If this expansion were to be sustained, per capita income, or the money the average Filipino makes, could double to $6,000 a year by 2024. By 2029, the size of the economy is expected to more than triple from $310 billion in 2015 to over $1 trillion.

“These significant increases in per capita GDP will create one of Asean’s largest consumer markets of the future, as the middle class rapidly expands over time,” IHS Global Asia Pacific chief economist Rajiv Biswas said. “This will help attract foreign direct investment by multinationals into the Philippines manufacturing and services industry.”

The main growth drivers for the Philippines economy are the rapidly growing outsourcing sector and the strong flow of remittances from Filipino workers abroad. The expected gains may be attributed to the large pool of university-educated workers as well as the strong English-language skills of the workforce in the country.

In the Philippines, the export revenue from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector more than doubled between 2008 and 2014, reaching an estimated $18 billion in revenues by 2014, while the total number of employees in the IT-BPO industry exceeded 1 million.

By 2016, the Philippines’ IT-BPO industry is projected to have 1.3 million employees. The rapid growth of this industry is also driving economic development in a number of cities across the Philippines, with Manila and Cebu now ranked among the world’s leading BPO hubs.

See more at: http://www.eastvantage.com/newsroom/philippines-soon-become-economic-heavyweight-asia



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