Doing business in the Philippines this year?
In the 2010 World Competitive Yearbook (WCY), The Philippines ranked 39th among 58 countries, 4 notches higher than the previous year’s ranking, but still at the bottom of the 13 economies in the Asia-Pacific region that were included in the study.
However, with the beginning of a new administrative era under newly elected President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III, the Philippines’ economic performance and competitiveness is seen to rise this 2010 from its previously below-par status. With the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the largest business organization in the country rallying behind the president, the Philippines’ economic future is looking bright. The recent release of the 2010 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), signed by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last April 30, 2010, provides a framework of the on particular investment areas critical to national advancement. In the report, Preferred Activities consist of job saving/creation projects, green projects for more efficient use of natural resources (both under the Contingency List), infrastructure and the BPO industry (under the Regular List).
Opportunities are vast for both local and foreign investors who are eyeing this country for investment opportunities, but the steps are quite tedious. In the International Finance Corp. (IFC) report , the ease of doing business for domestic small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is measured using 10 indicators: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. The Philippines slipped in all indicators except in the area of closing a business, where the country maintained its previous-year ranking of 153.
The previous administration addressed this dilemma with the creation of the Republic Act 95101 or Credit Information System Act, signed into law by former President Macapagal-Arroyo last 2008. This law allowed for the creation of the Credit Information Corporation (CIC), a body responsible for receiving and collating basic data on credit history and financial condition of borrowers. This assembly of information should help borrowers have more ease in pursuing investment ideas, as well as revealing the potential of doing business in the Philippines.
