Philippine growth prospects remain bright — Oxford Business

• Jun 15, 2017

MANILA, Philippines – Prospects for the Philippines continue to remain bright given its sound economic fundamentals, but further improvement on its domestic policies would be critical to take its economy a notch higher, global research and consultancy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG) said.

OBG launched yesterday its latest publication entitled “The Report: The Philippines 2017” which assessed trends and developments across the economy, including those in macroeconomics, infrastructure, banking, and other significant sectors.

“The theme this year is basically more on diversification and looking for the next source of growth,” said Paulius Kuncinas, OBG managing editor for Asia.

“The emphasis is shifting slightly towards domestic policy. If in the past we are focusing on discussing opportunities from foreign investment prospective, it is now safe to say the Philippines is now well established so investors know what the opportunities are and they are well marked,” Kuncinas added.

Kuncinas said with a high profile president in place who has made clear his plans for driving new growth, expectations for the Philippines are on the rise.

OBG’s CEO Andrew Jeffreys, meanwhile, said the country’s strategic location in a fast growing region and well educated, relatively low-cost workforce had given it an advantage over several other investment destinations.

“Years of sound GDP growth and FDI have put the Philippines on a firm footing as it adjusts to a change in leadership. With a raft of reforms in the pipeline aimed at further sharpening the economy’s competitive edge, the country is well placed to build on its solid foundations,” Jeffreys said.

Kuncinas, however, said that while opportunities abound and are enormous for the country, OBG is aware of the prevailing challenges.

“The most overlooked factor in development in new economies is the divide. Policymakers tend to overlook this until it’s too late,” he said

“There’s economic divide in which many would argue that Metro Manila is already too congested, that too much emphasis is on the capital and therefore we have inward migration which is putting enormous pressure on this city.

We also have digital divide which comes from access to broadband, access to hardware, and IT education.

We have financial divide wherein we have people in Manila where credit growth is growing every year but large population don’t have access to basic banking services.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/06/15/1710011/philippine-growth-prospects-remain-bright-oxford-business