Economy

The Philippine economy continues to enjoy a period of rapid, broad-based growth as the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and growing remittances from overseas workers drive growth in consumer-oriented industries and construction. Although real growth decelerated in 2014 to 6.1%, it remained higher than many of the country’s South-east Asian peers, and is expected to remain near 6% for the remainder of the decade. The economy is overly concentrated in the Metro Manila region, and major challenges lie ahead in overcoming long-standing infrastructure bottlenecks and developing stronger energy and manufacturing sectors. Yet the government is increasing its efforts to spread manufacturing and BPO growth across the country and clear obstacles to developing other sectors where outlying regions have strong potential. This chapter contains an interview with Cesar V Purisima, Secretary, Department of Finance; a roundtable with Manuel Pangilinan, Managing Director, First Pacific; Teresita Sy-Coson, Vice-Chairperson, SM Investments Corporation; and Jay Yuvallos, President, Interior Basics Export Corporation; and an interview with Atsi Sheth, Associate Managing Director, and Moody’s Investors Service.