Employers said the economy must grow over 7 percent to make a huge impact on poverty alleviation stressing a trickle-down effect on small improvement on GDP will not make a meaningful impact on the poor.
“We need to grow over 7 percent GDP to make a huge trickle-down effect not the 0.2 or 0.3 improvement in GDP,” said Edgardo B. Lacson, President of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP).
With over 7 percent growth, Lacson said, new jobs should be generated. The economy was expected to grow 6.5 on the average in 2012.
Lacson, however, said that the economy is expected to post higher growth in 2013 given the strong economic momentum.
He said the domestic economy’s growth would continue to be driven by the BPO sector, the strong OFW remittances, and the attractive capital market.
Lacson, who accompanied Vice-President Jejomar Binay to India where the Business Processing Association of the Philippines and NASSCOM, the premier trade body representing India’s software and BPO services industry, renewed their cooperation agreement, noted that the Philippines has remained the favorite destination of BPO companies despite the fact it is 30 percent more expensive than India.
“We continue to enjoy the favors of global outsourcing companies, but we have to take care of that foreign exchange currency problem because that 30 percent could double up,” he warned.
Export revenues from the BPO sector reached over $11 billion in 2011 to $14 billion in 2012 and $16 billion by 2013 to reach the target of $25 billion level by 2916 and employ 1.3 million direct jobs.
The contribution of the OFWs to the domestic economy cannot be underestimated, too as their remittances continue to surge defying the strong peso. There are at least 10 million registered overseas-based Filipinos, fueling spending of over 10 percent of households in the country.
As of October, 2012, total OFW remittances reach $17.5 billion, up by 5.8 percent from $16.53 billion in the same period in 2011.
Combined this with the OFWs’ personal remittances (value of cash and goods sent home), total remittances amounted to $19.46 billion in the first 10 months, up year on year by nearly 6 percent from $18.37 billion in 2011.
“When the Philippines opened overseas employment for Filipinos in 1968, there was a big problem, but what was a problem them is now an economic success,” he cited.
According to original projections of the BSP, remittances, which amounted to $20.1 billion in 2011, could grow by 5 percent in 2012 to $21.1 billion and by another 5 percent in 2013 to $22.16 billion.
The World Bank, however, said it is likely that total remittances to the Philippines for 2012 will hit $24 billion and make the country the third-biggest recipient of money from migrants, next to India and China.
Deployment continued at a robust pace with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) processing 721,338 job orders from foreign employers in January to November of 2012. Of the figure, about 42 percent, or 302,173, had been processed.

Source: Manila Bulletin - January 6, 2012