BPI president Montinola: Is Philippine growth sustainable?

MANILA, Philippines – The top executive of one of the biggest universal banks in the Philippines compared the performance of the country to that of a “triathlete,” then shared a thought: “Is the [performance] sustainable?”

At the 2012 Mid-year Economic Briefing at Pasay City on Monday, September 17, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) president and CEO Aurelio Montinola III shared his insights about the Philippine economy’s stellar performance and what else could be done.

“Despite major challenges in the world….thankfully Philippines today is in a sweet spot — great economics, consistently high ratings of government officials… After two good years of the Aquino administration, is this virtuous cycle sustainable? Is the former Sick Man of Asia can potentially become a triathlete?” he said, making reference to the faster-than-expected economic growth of 6.3% in the first quarter and 5.9% in the second.

“Are we now a major part of the investors’ [radar]? The PIP is a good start,” he beamed, referring to the grouping of emerging economies of the Philippines, India and Peru.

He said that these good performance metrics have been felt by the banking industry. “Philippine banks are healthy and will continue to lend and will continue to lend at low interest rates.”

He said he expects the Philippines to get an upgrade in the credit rating “by end-2013,” which in turn will reduce cost of borrowing.

He then went on to address the different priority industries of the government.

“Over the short term, we should focus on BPOs (business process outsourcing), tourism and general infrastructure.”

On tourism, he said he agrees on the government’s current focus on it since the industry may be come another key dollar earner, next to remittances from overseas Filipinos and exports.

He also cited the impact of the focus on tourism in infrastructure. “General infrastructure comes hand in hand with tourism [such as the] expansion of secondary airports in a PPP (public-private partnership) fashion.”

He also cited the importance of agriculture and fisheries, electronics and the Philippines’ possible opportunities in the manufacturing sector.

“Thankfully we have for now escaped the travails of foreign banks in the developed world. Now it is the MNC (multinational corporations) that are worrying about large foreign debt. In Philippines, banks, government and corporate sector are doing well,” he said.

“Healthy banking supports good economics,” he ended. -LALA RIMANDO, Rappler.com