<\/p>\n
By Justine Irish D. Tabile, <\/b>Senior Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
THE PHILIPPINES\u2019 ambition to change into Southeast Asia\u2019s next economic growth engine is determined by the private sector\u2019s ability to take a position, expand and innovate with confidence, the World Bank (WB) said.<\/span><\/p>\n The message today is that this: higher jobs and prosperity for Filipinos require higher conditions for firms to take a position, grow, upgrade and change into ASEAN\u2019s (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) next growth engine,\u201d Zafer Mustafao\u011flu, World Bank country director for the Philippines, told the BusinessWorld Economic Forum on Monday.<\/p>\n He warned that the US-Israel war on Iran, which has pushed up oil prices, is slowing economic activity and lifting inflation pressures.<\/p>\n The Philippine economy grew by a weaker-than-expected 2.8% in the primary quarter, as surging oil prices and the lingering fallout from past domestic scandals weighed on activity.<\/p>\n Inflation accelerated to 7.2% in April, above the Philippine central bank\u2019s forecast and goal for a second straight month.<\/p>\n Mr. Mustafao\u011flu in his keynote said investment weakness is the important thing concern since it signals fewer expansions, upgrades and productivity improvements that ultimately limit job creation.<\/span><\/p>\n Gross capital formation contracted 3.3% in the primary quarter, reversing a 4.5% gain a yr earlier but improving from the previous quarter\u2019s decline.<\/p>\n BusinessWorld<\/i> President and Chief Executive Of<\/span>f<\/span>icer Miguel G. Belmonte said the Philippines\u2019 ASEAN chairmanship highlights each opportunity and the necessity to handle domestic competitiveness gaps.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cASEAN has no shortage of frameworks and roadmaps, from economic blueprints to sector-specific agreements,\u201d he told the forum. \u201cThe region has outlined its vision to change into considered one of the world\u2019s biggest economic blocs by the top of the last decade.\u201d<\/p>\n He said ASEAN integration goals are well defined, however the Philippines must fix infrastructure bottlenecks and productivity constraints to learn fully.<\/span><\/p>\n Jamil Paolo S. Francisco, executive director of the Asian Institute of Management \u2013 Rizalino S. Navarro Center for Competitiveness, said the Philippines has stagnated <\/span>in global rankings despite earlier gains.<\/span><\/p>\n He said productivity gaps remain wide, with the country producing significantly less output per employee compared with regional peers reminiscent of Thailand.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCompetitiveness could be tricky since it\u2019s a race,\u201d he identified. \u201cDevelopment is a marathon, not a sprint. But here\u2019s the thing \u2014 on this marathon, we’re getting left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthony Oundjian, Boston Consulting Group Philippines managing director, said the Philippines lags behind its ASEAN peers by way of output.<\/p>\n \u201cThough we have now the demographics and the buyer market, we actually lack scale in productivity per employee,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’re at around one-fourth of Thailand\u2019s productivity per employee.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He added that predictability in policy implementation is critical for long-term investment decisions.<\/p>\n Grab Philippines Managing Director Ronald Roda said fragmented local requirements slow business expansion across cities and municipalities nationwide.<\/p>\n Mr. Mustafao\u011flu said the Philippines could still attract more foreign investment and move up the synthetic intelligence (AI) value chain if reforms speed up.<\/p>\n He said delays in permits, port congestion and complicated paperwork proceed to boost costs and discourage firms from expanding.<\/span><\/p>\n He urged reforms in business registration, border management and trade agreements to enhance <\/span>competitiveness and reduce transaction costs.<\/span><\/p>\n He said business registration within the Philippines takes about 78 days versus at some point in Singapore and two in Malaysia.<\/p>\n He also said ineff<\/span>icient border processes act like a hidden tariff that raises costs and slows global supply chain integration.<\/p>\n He added that maximizing free trade agreements could boost productivity through cheaper inputs and stronger competition.<\/p>\n \u201cThe country already has a foothold,\u201d Mr. Mustafao\u011flu said. \u201cThrough semiconductors and intermediate inputs, the Philippines is already connected to the hardware side of AI. However the <\/span>country isn’t yet capturing the total opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He said the Philippines must move beyond assembly operations into higher value-added activities reminiscent of design support, testing and AI-enabled <\/span>services to stay competitive within the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Senior Reporter THE PHILIPPINES\u2019 ambition to change into Southeast Asia\u2019s next economic growth engine is determined by the private sector\u2019s ability to take a position, expand and innovate with confidence, the World Bank (WB) said. The message today is that this: higher jobs and prosperity for Filipinos require higher conditions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[19255,1051,8860,3431,1859,17176],"class_list":["post-336973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-asean","tag-businesses","tag-engine","tag-growth","tag-key","tag-phl"],"aioseo_notices":[{"message":"The permalink for this post just changed! 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