Foreign business chambers have detailed in a report recommendations aimed at boosting the Philippine economy.
The Joint Foreign Chambers’ (JFC) Arangkada Philippines 2010advocacy paper, submitted to President Benigno S. C. Aquino III earlier this month, calls for a focus on seven “big winner” industries, namely:
- agribusiness;
- information technology and business process outsourcing;
- creative industries;
- infrastructure;
- manufacturing and logistics;
- mining;
- and tourism, medical travel and retirement.
The report took its name from the Filipino word for “accelerate” — the country was described as “growing too slow” — and it called for a doubling of economic growth to 9% in three years and targets of $7.5 billion in annual foreign direct investments (FDI) and exports of $100 billion in five to six years.
“Catching up and keeping up is an imperative, not a choice,” the report stated.
Among others, it noted minimal gains versus poverty compared to other Asian neighbors, a drop in the investment rate, weak FDI and inadequate government revenues.
It pointed to a continued increase in remittances from overseas Filipino workers — foreign capital that some see as accounting for 4% of annual economic growth — and stressed that increasing dependence on this “shield the elite from pressure to reform”.
All in all, the Arangkada advocacy paper contains 471 recommendations on issues such as unplanned holidays — the Philippines is said to have too much, old concerns such as constitutional limits on foreign ownership and high labor costs, and even recently highlighted matters such as mining bans ordered by local government units and airlines shouldering overtime pay for customs personnel.
The JFC comprises the American, Australia-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese and Korean chambers of commerce and an association of multinational companies located in the Philippines.
— From a report by Emilia Narni J. David published by BusinessWorld Online here.
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