Philippines one of the most attractive investment destinations - Oxford Business Group

Global consulting firm The Oxford Business Group (OBG) launched the latest version of a report on the country from the investor’s perspective, highlighting the Philippines’ growth story and its improving stature in the global arena.

The report entitled, “The Report: the Philippines 2015”, unveiled in Makati City on May 7, was produced with the help of the Makati Business Club and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce. It features detailed coverage of specific industries, most of which are benefiting from the strong economy.

“We are convinced that the Philippines is now one of the hottest and most attractive investment destinations not just in the region but globally. There has been a huge shift in investor sentiment away from traditional emerging markets such as the BRICs, China and India, now it’s all about Southeast Asia,” said Paulius Kuncinas, OBG Managing Editor for Asia in his speech at the launch.

The Philippine growth story is exciting, he said, because the growth is driven by domestic consumption anchored on high local demand.

This is a more sustainable model compared to the export-driven growth of other Asian “Tiger economies”, he said.

The most remarkable aspect of the story, he added, was the emergence of new sectors led by the BPO industry, which, he noted has moved on to more value-added services. It can claim global leadership along with India.

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Optimistic Filipino Business Execs on a Hiring Spree

Philippine business leaders are Southeast Asia’s most optimistic and the world’s third most bullish.

In its International Business Report, Grant Thornton said at least eight out of every 10 business executives in the Philippines are upbeat about the country’s economic prospects in the next 12 months.

Audit firm Punongbayan & Araullo conducted the survey in the country for Grant Thornton.

Filipino executives were behind their Irish and Indian counterparts, optimism among whom reached 92 percent and 89 percent, respectively, of survey respondents.

Filipinos however were the most optimistic in Southeast Asia, with Indonesians coming the closest at 68 percent, followed by Thais, 36 percent; and Singaporeans, 4 percent. Malaysians bucked the trend, with pessimists outnumbering optimists.

Filipino executives also are in the mood for hiring, with the percentage of respondents expecting an increase in employment at 56 percent, up 14 percentage points from last year.

Despite the improved hiring outlook, more than a third of respondents are hard put looking for qualified workers, albeit down 5 percentage points from last year.

“Although there’s a slight improvement in our skilled workers compared to last year, the gap between businesses’ hiring appetite and the depth of the local talent pool is still alarming,” Marivic Españo, chair and chief executive of P&A, said. 

"The country needs to cultivate the kind of workforce it needs to stay competitive and prevent our most highly skilled professionals from emigrating for job opportunities abroad,” she added.

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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.

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