A Business Perspective
Arangkada is a comprehensive menu of recommendations for the country at this important crossroads. Published in December 2010 by the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in the Philippines (JFC), it reflects proposals of the 2,000 foreign and domestic business members of the JFC who are prepared to invest continuously and heavily in the country and who all envision a brighter future for all Filipinos. [ Read more ]
7 Winning Sectors: Infrastructure
The Philippines is significantly underinvesting in physical infrastructure, with its public sector infrastructure budget consistently below 3% of GDP. Spending on social infrastructure for education and health is also inadequate at slightly over 4% of GDP. Polls of businessmen repeatedly show poor infrastructure as one of the top challenges facing the Philippine economy, second only to corruption. Like corruption, poor infrastructure severely weakens economic competitiveness. [ Read more ]
2. Mining
With an estimated $1.4 trillion in mineral reserves, especially gold, copper, nickel, aluminum, and chromite, the mining potential of Philippines is one of largest in the world. According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the archipelago is second in the world in gold and third in copper resources. The country is ranked top five in the world for overall mineral reserves. [ Read more ]
3. Tourism
Tourism development can have strong poverty reduction effects in remote and rural areas. It has been calculated that for every foreign tourist that visits the country and spends about a thousand dollars, one job for one year is supported. Each $1 spent by a tourist to pay for accommodation services gets multiplied 2.1 times. [ Read more ]
4. Manufacturing & Logistics
The development path of each of Asia's advanced and middle-income economies has been characterized by strong growth of the industrial sector and large shifts of workers from lower value-added agriculture and services into higher-value manufacturing and exports. This has yet to take place in the Philippines on a sufficiently large scale. [ Read more ]
5. Agribusiness
About 12 million Filipinos work in the agricultural sector. If the country can significantly increase its exports and imports of agricultural goods, agricultural provinces would generate much greater revenue, provide more employment opportunities, and lessen poverty in rural areas. This is especially important for Mindanao, the country's breadbasket that has great underdeveloped potential for agricultural exports. [ Read more ]
6. Business Process Outsourcing
Information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) is the fastest-growing employment and one of the highest revenue generating economic sector in the Philippines today. IT-BPO is the biggest of our Seven Big Winners, because of its current size, high growth rate, and potential to employ millions of Filipinos. [ Read more ]
