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Although the summer of 2013 saw increased political risk and uncertainty in the country’s broader macroeconomic environment, the positive financial results of Egypt’s banking sector over 2012 and into 2013 attest to its overall resilience. A history of conservative regulation has enabled the sector to ride out the economic crisis and most in the industry expect it to successfully weather the current political challenges. Public sector banks continue to play an important role. There are five state-owned banks, three of which control around 40% of the sector’s total assets. Since the 2011 uprising, the credit rating of Egypt’s domestic banks has been repeatedly downgraded, largely as a result of their perceived overexposure to sovereign debt. However, the sector’s funding and liquidity profiles garner a stable outlook from most agencies, thanks to the high proportion of customer deposits in relation to local and foreign funding. In the longer term, the macroeconomic fundamentals that have attracted Gulf banks to the market are expected to remain in place – a diverse economy, a large and young population, an anticipated 3.3% growth rate in 2014, and an underleveraged market. This chapter contains interviews with Hisham Ramez, Governor, Central Bank of Egypt; and Ali Al Kuwari, Acting Group CEO, Qatar National Bank (QNB).

Belied by its relatively modest contribution to the overall economy, the Philippine agriculture sector remains a key component in the social and economic development of the country; more than 24.53m Filipinos work in the sector, making it economically and politically vital. Taken together, agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing expanded by 2.92% in 2012, up slightly from 2.59% in 2011. At current prices, the value of agriculture production reached $33bn in 2012. Recent efforts by the government to increase efficiency and productivity within the industry should help boost profitability in the sector. Further, once in place, business-friendly policies and enhanced infrastructure should provide an attractive market for investors looking to harness the sector’s untapped potential. This chapter contains interviews with Virgilio de los Reyes, Secretary, Department of Agrarian Reform; and John Martin Miller, Chairman and CEO, Nestlé Philippines.

The Philippines banking sector has strengthened significantly in recent years, tracking general economic trends and benefitting from prudent measures put into place over time to boost capital and improve supervision, corporate governance and transparency. The local institutions that emerged from the late 1990s are stable and more wary of excessive risk and asset-liability imbalances. The challenge now is to build off this foundation and to further develop the sector so it can deal with new risks while funding economic growth. This chapter contains interviews with Amando M Tetangco Jr., Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; and a Roundtable with Nestor Tan, President, Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO); Gilda Pico, President, Landbank of the Philippines; Fabian Dee, President, Metrobank; and Cezar Consing, President, Bank of the Philippine Islands.

Exhibiting nominal growth rates of approximately 20% every year, business process outsourcing (BPO) is the Philippines’ most successful major sector. It tripled in size between 2004 and 2007 as a result of the global financial boom, growing from 100,000 to 300,000 employees and achieving revenues of $4.8bn. While accounting for only about 2% of national employment in 2012, the sector still makes an oversized contribution to the country’s GDP and especially to growth – directly and indirectly – as it creates demand for office space, telecoms services and the consumerist lifestyles of its young employees. Growth in 2013-14 could be especially hurt by the collapse of the Indian rupee in mid-2013, which will make India’s BPO sector formidably competitive. The Philippines will need to aggressively position itself as a provider of premium quality service to retain and continue to draw cost-sensitive, fleet-footed BPO clients. This chapter contains an interview with Jose Mari Mercado, President & CEO, Information Technology and Business Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).