Arangkada Philippines: A Business Perspective
Introduction
Arangkada Philippines 2010: A Business Perspective has a strategic purpose to provide recommendations that lead to millions of new jobs for Filipinos and higher economic growth for the country. This document includes hundreds of recommendations for action by both public and private sectors in a great number of areas. Together they add up to an agenda for change to help policy makers and business leaders to enable the national economy to compete in a world increasingly interlinked and competitive. In this world, keeping up is an imperative, not a choice. For too many years and in too many sectors of its economy the Philippines has lagged, losing competitiveness despite the nation's immense potential.
[ Read This Chapter ]Executive Summary
Arangkada Philippines 2010: A Business Perspective is about creating a bright future for the Philippines, the 12th most populous country and probably the 10th or 9th by 2030. [ Read This Chapter ]Country Profile
A concise look into the country's starting point and where it stood among its Southeast Asian peers in 2009/2010. [ Read This Chapter ]PART 1: GROWING TOO SLOW
THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE
As it begins the second decade of the 21st Century, the Philippines faces a major challenge to move its economy to a higher level of growth and job creation than it has experienced during the past often turbulent decades.
Figure 1 presents Philippine economic growth rates from 1981 to 2009 and clearly shows the boom-and-bust cycles triggered by the brutal assassination of former Senator Aquino in 1983, the military coup attempt of December 1989, the power blackouts of 1991-1992, and the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Each crisis forced GDP growth into negative territory and significantly reduced the PCI for a fast-growing population.
[ Read This Chapter ]Philippine Growth Has Not Been Inclusive
While growth has improved from the dismal levels of the 80s and 90s, the average GDP growth of the last decade will not be enough to address some major challenges the Philippines faces. [ Read This Chapter ]Living in the High Growth Neighborhood
The Philippines is located in the world?s fastest growing region. Figure 10 shows that the ASEAN-6 plus 4 (China, India, Japan, and Korea) in 2009 had about the same share 23.4% of world GDP as the United States (24.5%) and the EU (21.4%). [ Read This Chapter ]PART 2: BECOMING MORE COMPETITIVE
The Philippine International Competitiveness Landscape
Filipinos have long been highly competitive in the world job market, yet perceptions of the Philippine investment climate have eroded in all major rankings of international competitiveness.
This has been a decade of expansion for international competitiveness rankings. More and more have appeared, with increasing coverage, literally from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The increasing number of international rankings has been stimulated by the globalization of investment, trade, and information. Companies moving manufacturing or business processing operations offshore want to know how potential locations rank.
[ Read This Chapter ]Regional Business Outlook Survey
From 2003 to 2009, the ASEAN Regional Business Outlook Survey of American Chambers of Commerce in ASEAN identified areas of concern where member firms were dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied. [ Read This Chapter ]Best Countries for Business
The Best Countries for Business List is an annual list prepared by Forbes Magazine. The 2009 report is described as a ranking of countries according to "who is best equipped to bounce back" from the 2009 economic meltdown based on various indices and reports.... [ Read This Chapter ]PART 3: SEVEN BIG WINNER SECTORS
AGRIBUSINESS
The Philippine agricultural sector comprised 19% of GDP in 2009 and employed 34% of the labor force. Yet agricultural products made up only 8.3% of total Philippine commodity exports and Philippine agricultural exports were the smallest of the ASEAN-5. Table 22 contains agricultural exports and imports of the ASEAN-6 (less Singapore) for 2009 and shows that the Philippines exported US$3.2 billion, a very small amount compared to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Of the five economies, only the Philippines imported more agricultural goods than it exported. Agricultural exports for the other four economies made significant, positive contributions to their trade balances.
[ Read This Chapter ]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. [ Read This Chapter ]Creative Industries
The Creative Economy is defined as industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill, and talent and which have potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. [ Read This Chapter ]PART 4: GENERAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
INTRODUCTION
The final section of the Arangkada Philippines 2010 discusses a group of challenges the Philippines faces that are not otherwise discussed in the other sections and makes recommendations accordingly. Most of these issues have been discussed in public in recent years, some from the JFC, but many others from Philippine business groups, several of the Philippine Development Forum Technical Working Groups (PDF-TWGs), the National Competitiveness Council (NCC), and other policy advocates.
These issues complete the picture of the Philippine investment climate and include many of the problems which are highest on lists of concerns in investor surveys, including corruption, laws, judicial decisions, local government actions, and others.
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