With the right infrastructure, we believe the Philippines can be the most attractive market for both services and manufacturing in the ASEAN.
By: Kathryn Jose | July 15, 2023
British multinational bank HSBC advised the government to further speed up and expand its infrastructure build-up as a launchpad for boosting the services and manufacturing industries.
Domestic industries have good prospects of securing more trade deals with British firms, which currently amounts to over 2.4 billion pounds.
In a forum by the British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines last Thursday, HSBC president and CEO for the Philippines Sandeep Uppal said ramping up production of goods and services to match foreign orders is possible through better infrastructure.
“What is important for the Philippines is mobility. With the right infrastructure, we believe the Philippines can be the most attractive market for both services and manufacturing in the ASEAN. The aspiration for the Philippines is to lead the VIP of ASEAN.”
VIP, which is an acronym for Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, is the group expected to see the highest economic growth in the region in the next several years.
On the right track
Uppal said the Philippines is “on the right track” as the current administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has opened the country for more foreign partnerships including consortia for 194 flagship projects. These include railways, airports, bus transit systems, seaports, green pathways and energy facilities.
The government also aims to increase annual infrastructure spending within an equivalent of 5 percent to 6 percent of its gross domestic product, or GDP aside from funding through official development assistance from foreign governments and partnerships with the private sector.
The Department of Transportation said it will respond to the challenge of the foreign trade group.
“The idea for our infrastructure development is to make it comfortable and predictable. Our goal is to encourage everyone to use our public transport. If you’ve been in other countries, you’ll see that the barometer for a good transport is when everyone’s using it,” Transportation Undersecretary Reiner Yebra said.
For growth in the services and manufacturing sectors, Budget and Management assistant secretary Romeo Balanquit believed the government must also pay attention to harnessing highly skilled manual workers.
“I think we should also develop very good electricians and manual workers and not focus so much on diploma courses. This is my personal take. There are professions that do not require a college degree but also contribute to economic growth,” Balanquit added.
He urged the government to look for ways to acquire encourage the setting up of more technical and vocational schools.
The budget department allocated this year the biggest share of 38 percent to funds for social services that include education funding, followed by funds for development projects at 30.8 percent share.
British Embassy in Manila deputy head of mission Alistair White said reforms under the previous and new policies of the current administrations have made the Philippine economy more resilient compared to other Asian nations.
“We see a very exciting year as the Philippines emerge with the rest of the world from the pandemic. We see our trade back to pre-pandemic levels. Actually, it’s exceeding pre-pandemic levels which is extraordinary,” White indicated.
In the first quarter, the economy expanded by 6.4 percent, which is markedly better than Malaysia’s 4.9 percent, India’s 4.6 percent and Thailand’s 2.8 percent.
White expects trade between the United Kingdom and the Philippines to grow further.
“For this year, we’re looking at 2.4 billion pounds in trade.With the developing countries’ trading scheme, the Philippines has now tariff-free access to over 88 percent of goods and exports to the UK,” White pointed out.
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