Aquino regime boosts business confidence
MANILA, Philippines—Still riding the euphoria that followed President Aquino’s election victory last year, Filipino businessmen now count themselves as among the most optimistic in the world, according to a recent worldwide survey.
More specifically, the results of the annual Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR) showed that Filipino business leaders were now ranked third in the world in terms of optimism with 87 percent of businessmen saying they were more confident about business prospects for 2011.
Local businessmen came in just behind their peers from Chile (95-percent optimism) and India (93 percent), and ahead of those in Brazil (78 percent).
The IBR—conducted locally by the group’s affiliate Punongbayan & Araullo—is an international survey of the opinions of medium to large privately held businesses.
“Some may dismiss this rosy outlook of Filipino executives as simply in keeping with the Filipino’s positive thinking,” said P&A managing partner and COO Marivic Españo.
“This year, however, such optimism is backed by the 7.3-percent real GDP [gross domestic product] growth in 2010,” she added. “That’s the highest economic growth rate we have ever experienced, so I would say our optimism is well-founded.”
The IBR results echoed similar findings released recently by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which showed local businessmen having record-high confidence levels since the entry of the new administration last year.
The Makati Business Club, the group that brings together the country’s biggest businesses, also agreed with the findings.
“We share that optimism,” MBC executive director Peter Perfecto said, adding that the key now was to translate this confidence into concrete gains for the benefit of the broader population.
“We believe that the government can sustain the growth momentum of 2010, if the [Public-Private Partnership] projects begin rolling out this year,” he said. “I understand that they are committed to rolling out at least 10 projects this year. This will be significant.”
Since the Philippines began participating in 2004, optimism among local business leaders has always tracked an upward trend until 2009, when optimism dropped from a high of 95 percent to 63 percent in reaction to the global financial crisis, P&A said in a statement.
The following year, confidence level marginally improved to 68 percent as business leaders cautiously looked forward to a rebound, it added.
Survey respondents were also asked about their business expectations for this year.
Filipino businessmen reported improved confidence in the areas of employment, revenue, selling prices, exports, profitability, investments in new buildings, investment in machinery, and research and development.
Source: http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20110228-322739/PH-is-3rd-most-optimistic-economy
REACTION:
"An enterprising person is one who comes across a pile of scrap metal and sees the making of a wonderful sculpture. An enterprising person is one who drives through an old decrepit part of town and sees a new housing development. An enterprising person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life." -Jim Rohn
It is really a good thing to know that Filipino businessmen are optimistic nowadays towards the business world since the new administration started. For some individuals they may look at this issue as a negative thing wherein this optimism will only remain as mere optimisms of businessmen. But this outlook was rebutted by the 7.3% GDP(gross domestic product) growth for the year 2010 that is also considered as the highest economic growth rate the Philippines have ever experienced so far. This only shows that their optimism were not put to waste because it was clearly shown in the increase of the GDP that there were good results. The sudden hike of GDP may have given good impressions to investors and encouraged them to invest in the Philippine economy resulting to a better economy for the Filipinos.
I am not majoring in Economics and I admit that I am not that knowledgeable in terms of business and the likes but I know that when this continues then this may give benefits to the larger population of the economy. There's nothing wrong in being optimistic as long as we do our part to make things happen. For the Filipino businessmen, it is good that they think positively and have the confidence to put these optimisms into actions. And if this continues with the help of the government administration then Philippines will surely have a greener pasture sooner or later.
