PHL not among AmCham’s top expansion destinations in ASEAN

Corruption in the Philippines remains a top concern among US businessmen and firms, placing it low on a list of their top destinations for expansion, a recent survey showed.

The latest ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Outlook 2014 of the US Chamber of Commerce showed that while the Philippines has made gains in terms of economic growth and business environment, concerns remain about the country’s infrastructure, laws and regulations, tax structure, customs procedures and the level of corruption.

Making the top of the list are Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia. The Philippines only came in sixth, followed by Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei.

AmCham surveyed 475 executives in the ASEAN member economies from May 10 to June 10 this year, including 39 respondents in the Philippines.

According to the survey results, their biggest concerns are corruption (for 59 percent of respondents), tax reform (56 percent), infrastructure (54 percent), laws and regulations (46 percent), and ease of moving products through customs (44 percent).

However, corruption is the main concern among respondents for almost the whole region, except for Brunei and Singapore.

Pros

Despite the Philippines’ ranking on the list, the survey said that the country showed the greatest improvement in business environment from 2008 to 2013, with improvement in 14 of 16 factors, as well as “a 50-percent improvement in the stability of its government and political system” over the period.

The respondents also listed the country’s strengths: availability of trained personnel (87 percent), sentiment towards the US (79 percent), availability of low-cost labor (74 percent), stable government (62 percent), housing costs (56 percent), personal security (56 percent) and office lease costs (51 percent).

There is also a high rate of expatriate satisfaction, with 92 percent of executives reporting that
expatriate employees are generally satisfied with their assignments in the Philippines, and 82 percent saying that expatriate employees even “attempt to extend their time in the Philippines.”

Sixty-four percent of respondents expect their profits to go up this year, compared to 21 percent expecting their income to remain steady and 15 percent forecasting. For 2014, nearly all the respondents—84 percent—expect their profits to increase.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents expect to expand their workforce this year. — BM, GMA News