So I was reading Asian Perceptions 2008: The results of a survey on the views which Asia Focussed Business People Hold on the Business Climate in Asia which was shared by @mlq3 on plurk.
three graphs showed startling numbers:
(click each image to see the bigger picture)
When asked ““Are you considering an entry or expansion to the nominated country in the following year” the participants gave the Philippines more than 50%, “no plans”.
When asked of companies with no commercial contract in the philippines (who have not done or doing business in the philippines), more 90% said “no plans”. And in the list of countries, we’re at the bottom of that company.
When asked about the attractiveness of the Philippines, for both those with contact and no, a resounding “3″ and again, behind everybody else.
conclusion: What is the Philippines doing wrong that Thailand and Vietnam are way ahead of us? If this condition is not turned around in the next 10 years, the Philippines will find itself the poorest of the poor. Far behind Vietnam. And no it wouldn’t be just government’s fault. It will be every Filipino’s head.
Don’t give me the fraking bullshit that we’re not affected by the global financial crisis or that our economy is somehow resilient. Even if that argument holds true that is past performance, and given this survey, future performance is cloudy. That concerns me and the writing on the wall should concern every Filipino.
So what are we doing wrong? How will you turn it all around?
Popularity: 1% [?]
Government is the problem, not the answer. Surveys of foreign investors show they shy away from us because of corruption.
http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm
What to do with a disease-ridden government?
we should take this analysis in stride. while i agree being last is a problem, note that these are mostly australian/asian companies. i’m sure that australia is not one of the philippines largest trading partners, so bilateral investment will surely be low too.
also, a bright spot: their subjective assessment (1-5 scale) has been growing. this is good news.
Oh no there is nothing I can do about this so better blame the government. Yessiree, this is all about the government.
Four reasons:
1. Communist rebellion and unions
2. Muslim insurgency
3. Unmoderated greed in national and local government which includes-
4. A justice system perceived to be biased against foreigners (expat stories of the dangers of having a car accident with upper class Filipinos surely makes the cocktail party circuit regionally)
sparks, gabby, mlq3 your point all well taken and true.
very hard to convince foreigners to invest in the philippines.
“And no it wouldn’t be just government’s fault. It will be every Filipino’s head.”
Why, may I ask, cocoy, is it my fault too that investors rather invest in Vietnam than in my country the Philippines? They’ve heard of GMA, etc., but not of Bert.
Bert i only meant that as a collective, we must act.
The whole premise of this post is totally baseless.
All one has to do is check the contribution of multinational companies in the TOP 1000 corporations in the country and see that they are quite content here and contribute in gross revenues (as of 2007) Php 2.8 trillion. If you add the minority shareholdings of foreign companies in the top 1000 the figure could well be almost 50% of our total GDP.
The main problem of the Philippines is still the small economy. Fed Ex moved immediately to china when the Chinese government allowed them to get involved in domestic trade.
Foreign investors have nothing to do with growing the domestic economy.
I strongly suggest one looks at the actual performance of foreign companies here relative to the total size of the economy. Our industrial exports and large portion of our agricultural and resource based exports are also run by foreign companies. I would say close to 80%.
isa sa pinakamalaking dahilan nito ay ang ating mga politiko…take note “mga politiko”, admin o opposition man…
at pangalawa ay ang mga Pilipino na hangang ngayon ay humahalik sa pwet at sumusporta pa din sa mga lintek na politiko na to…nakikipagpatayan pa ang iba para lang ipagtanggol ang kanilang idolong payaso…
Mene, Mene tekel upharsin?
I think we must catch the wave of panicking Fil-Ams looking for opportunities back in the Archipelago as America grinds to a halt and gets going again. A lot of them are gonna cash in their chips and check out of the Hotel California Casino…
Why didn’t you mention the “Long Term Trend Attractiveness” graph?
In this, it shows that the Philippines has moved up ever so slightly during the past 3 years (or relatively stable if you look at it from another point of view). Thailand and Vietnam has been decreasing by large margins over the same period.
The main problem, I think, is our inferiority complex. We value the perceptions and opinions of foreigners too much to the extent that the smallest negative feedback is a cause for national shame and government bashing, while the smallest positive feedback is a cause for national celebration and fiestas. Unless we learn to value ourselves first and appreciate our own, there will be no progress.
my point was, we need a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose to move, move, work, work.
“The main problem, I think, is our inferiority complex. We value the perceptions and opinions of foreigners too much to the extent that the smallest negative feedback is a cause for national shame and government bashing, while the smallest positive feedback is a cause for national celebration and fiestas. Unless we learn to value ourselves first and appreciate our own, there will be no progress.”
Korek ka dyan Just Browsing. What underlies all this about being “world-class” and “competitiveness” are technocrats too neck-deep in their market gobbeldydgook-speak who actually know next to nothing about building a real economy. The Joey Salcedas who advice the Prez who’s a PhD in economics herself would rather forgo our native industries because they are “not competitive” and would rather keep up with the big guys whose own economies are bellying up themselves. Our economic elite and clueless leaders all want to be par with the best in the world – “maki-uso” is the name of the game. They can’t seem to realize that the best way to impress the world is through a clear record of over-all high quality of living for least a majority of the their very own citizens.
Why it had to be attaction of foreign investments all the time?
Do you know how foreign investors tap our local banks for their capitalization. Do you think they finance their projects one hundred per cent coming from their own money.
Do you know how much profit they repatriate from out of a dollar investment?
What country is going to invest? Australia? UK, US, China, Japan?
All these economies are suffering in deep recession.
MNCs in China stopped hiring Chinese university graduates . The women are training as nannies and hotel housekkeeping in schools for domestic workers.
Yes, Virginia, they have schools for domestic helpers and the enrolees are downsized white collar workers or new university graduates who can not find jobs because most businesses are not hiring. Just like in UK where butlers and nannies are trained and are given the skills, China is also going to be supplying domestic workers pretty soon.
And some are criticizing our white collar DHs who have not even trained for this kind of job.
According to US ambassador, more bad news about the Philippines are picked up by foreign media.
The good ones are never published.
The bloggers join the bashing as if joining the bandwagon would make them look intellectual who can understand diplomatic and trade relations. Sheesh.
True.
Because we citizens view with indifference the existence of these pests running the show.
Just Browsing,
It has nothing to do with complexes. Perception of business interests (whether foreign or not) translates into real opportunities. These are opportunities our country misses because of the current set-up of public institutions. No rational investor will sink his money into a pit of thieves.
Madonna,
Our neighbors avail of all policy instruments to pursue goals – this includes allowing FDI. This does not necessarily preclude growing indigenous industries. They can coexist. The problem is, this administration has other priorities.
The Ca t,
point well taken re: financing.
also the high cost of doing business in the philippines is a HUGE factor not to mention reputation that in this country, contracts whether foreign or local are hardly recognized.
just browsing,
even if i included the long term attractiveness graph, the philippines is still last place.
sparks,
my biggest complaint is that there is no rule that everybody agrees to play with. no baseline, no guarantee whatsoever that obligations would be met. those in power especially can change the rules to suit their whim. that’s not a very good place to do business with.
then there is the high cost of power, of internet, the absence of transportation infrastructure.
everything is made difficult.
let us for the sake of argument say that every official, everyone is a thief. there is no honor among thieves. how can one do business like that?
“Why, may I ask, cocoy, is it my fault too that investors rather invest in Vietnam than in my country the Philippines?”
“Because we citizens view with indifference the existence of these pests running the show.”
Very correct! While we concern citizens were burning our soles in the pavement crying our hearts out for change, the indifferent folks were either in Starbucks munching golden cookies or go their merryblogging ways.
Unless our Leaders clean their Acts. We will never
be taken seriously… Who would invest in a nation
ruled Mafiosi style?
much of asia is run mafiosi style, it’s just that the tribute to those in office is predictable and runs no more than 10%.
cat, the survey obviously was aimed at those who despite current conditions globally, are still sniffing around to invest elsewhere.
A great many people would invest in the Philippines, there are many reasons why they shy away.. i will tell you of two
1)In 1991 a bill was passed that makes it law that all business will be 60/40, that means an investor has to export 60% of his goods, this is unless the investor has over 200,000 dollars.
2)The lack of trust between Filipinos, and their ability to steal from almost any business.. i know this as its happened too me a few times. why the lack of trust amongst yourselves?
Then there is the corruption and graft…
Try looking towards something like Kaya Natin, get good governance, remove the 60/40 law, then many will start investing in the country , without having to really on exporting, just local sales
@steve
what is the name of this law?
@mlq3
so why don’t we regulate graft by legalizing it? make “graft” predictable. we can’t stop people from “taking” we can at least control it somehow?
“Our neighbors avail of all policy instruments to pursue goals – this includes allowing FDI. This does not necessarily preclude growing indigenous industries. They can coexist. The problem is, this administration has other priorities.”
Yes, true sparks. But our leaders salivate too much on FDIs, missing the fact that they will come the more the domestic infrastructure that are business-friendly are fixed (kasama na ang peace and order, consistent policies, people who are educated, etc.). On the other hand, domestic industries have never been a priority of our leaders, apart from the monopolistic ones that only enrich the already filthy rich and influential oligarchs.