Investing in the Philippines
According to Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the volume of investment pledged by American companies has come down by 26%.
President Donald Trump has vowed to bring back jobs that have been outsourced from the United States. As a result, U.S companies are adopting a wait-and-watch policy before committing to enter the Philippines or expand in the archipelago.
The BPO industry in the Philippines employs some 1.2 million workers. About 70% of them, or some 840,000 employees, serve U.S. customers. The sector will be hit hard even if a fraction of these jobs go back to the United States. Among the major American BPO companies present in the Philippines are Convergys, Qualfon and Teleperformance.
As of now, the Philippines has a 12.6% share of the world market in business process outsourcing. The BPO sector is the second-largest contributor to the economy, with annual revenues of around $22 billion.
Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas says that a slowdown would trickle down to the real estate sector as well. Millions of square meters are currently leased out by BPO companies. The housing market in Manila would crash – half of Manila’s population consists of BPO workers.
