World Bank Up Philippine Growth Forecast to 7%; Japanese Firms embark on Outsourcing investmen

World Bank ups Philippine growth forecasts amid East Asia slow down

Washington-based World Bank on Monday raise its Philippine economic growth forecast for this year and the next, citing strong private and public consumption, in the face of an expected slowdown for the rest of developing East Asia.

In a video conference with developing East Asia-based journalists, World Bank East Asia and Pacific chief economist in Singapore Bert Hofman said forecasts for the whole region was "a bit down" as global demand remains tepid.

For developing countries in East Asia and the Pacific as a whole, gross domestic product (GDP) growth is seen at 7.1 percent from 7.8 percent in 2013 and 7.2 percent from 7.6 percent in 2014, according to the multilateral lender's East Asia and the Pacific Economic Update.

The lender, however, raised the Philippine GDP growth forecast to 7 percent from 6.2 percent this year and 6.7 percent from 6.4 percent in 2014.

The bank said the Philippines will grow by 6.8 percent in 2015.

"Most of the world's demand was slower than expected," said Hofman.

In the report, World Bank said the strong 7.6-percent Philippine GDP growth in the first half was "underpinned by consumption and services, with investment and manufacturing giving an extra boost."

Hofman noted Philippine consumer demand will stay strong and government spending likely to increase as the administration tries to address infrastructure bottlenecks.

According to the bank, the Philippine government needs to increase revenues so it can bankroll education, healthcare and infrastructure development as a way of making growth felt at the grassroots.

"Philippines needs more revenues in order to have a sustainable financing of government's inclusive growth agenda and infrastructure development," said Hofman.

In a briefing in Manila after the video conference, World Bank lead economist for the Philippines Rogier van den Brink said the approval of a fiscal incentives bill – a measure rationalizing tax perks of businesses – as well as moves toward improving the ease of doing business and abolishing anti-competitive measures will help "lock-in the growth path that the country seems to be embarking on."

He said the government tax perks should be given to "sectors that are labor intensive" because high unemployment has belied the country's strong growth.

Van den Brink, however, said reforms should only come from the government. "The policy reform agenda to create more and better jobs is wide ranging, which is why it will need a broad coalition support."

He maintained the Philippine economy will continue to enjoy strong fundamentals amid low and stable inflation in the next two to three years. Inflation settled at 2.8 percent in the nine months to September.

Japan companies looks to invest in Philippine outsourcing industry, says IBPAP

Japanese companies want to get a piece of the action in information technology and business process management by investing in the Philippine outsourcing industry, an official told reporters in a press conference Monday.

Five Japanese companies are dead serious about this, according to the Information Technology and Business Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

"There were at least five Japanese companies that visited the Philippines earlier to do due diligence, to determine if they will invest here or outsource," said IBPAP president Jose Mari Mercado.

On the Philippine side, Mercado noted 14 IT companies attended a forum in Japan organized by the Philippine embassy in Roppongi, Tokyo to promote the IT competency of Filipinos. There were around 150 Japanese businessmen at the forum.

"Our key message there on our IT competency is that we have the people and resources," Mercado said. "Japan is running out of these resources," he added.

Other Japanese companies were interested in animation, contact centers, and IT programming. Right now, 20 Japanese firms are outsourcing part of their business processes in the Philippines.

Mercado said Fujitsu is one of the companies with IT support operations in the Philippines, noting most of the Japanese companies with outsourced business process operations are in finance, accounting services and IT support. – VS, GMA News

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Shouting Idiots? .. hong kong UNCIVILIZED journalists kicked out of APEC for shouting at Philippine President Aquino

Yahoo Southeast Asia Newsroom/EPA - Philippine President Benigno Aquino during APEC Summit in Bali Indonesia

APEC hosts Indonesia on Monday denied stifling press freedom after withdrawing the credentials of nine Hong Kong journalists for shouting questions at the Philippine leader, insisting that they had posed a security threat.

Despite protests from Hong Kong's main journalist group, President Benigno Aquino's spokesman also said the journalists had "crossed the line" by aggressively questioning him about a hostage siege in Manila that left eight Hong Kong people dead in 2010.

"We deemed it improper for media to act that way, as they didn't talk normally but they were very demonstrative, like they were protesting," Gatot Dewa Broto, the Indonesian communications ministry official who is in charge of the APEC media centre in Bali, told AFP.

"So we did this due to security concerns," he said, adding that the press badges of nine Hong Kong journalists had been deactivated.

They were free to remain in Bali, but could no longer access the media centre or venues being used for the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the official said.

Hong Kong media said journalists and technicians were affected from Now TV, RTHK and Commercial Radio.

As Aquino entered a meeting of APEC business leaders on Sunday, the reporters demanded to know whether he would meet Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying in Bali and apologize to the families of the hostage crisis victims.

Now TV footage showed the journalists shouting "So you're ignoring the Hong Kong people, right?" and "Have you met CY Leung" as they tried to reach their microphones over Aquino's entourage.

He did not answer the questions, and APEC staff then intervened to admonish the journalists with one accusing the reporters of "ambushing one of our visitors", Now TV showed.

Sham Yee-lan, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association, said Aquino's government had "yet to provide a satisfactory explanation" for why the eight Hong Kongers had died in a botched police rescue and that the journalists in Bali were doing their job.

"The barring of the media for asking critical questions is an outright infringement of press freedom that is totally unacceptable," she said in a statement.

Now TV said its journalists were "only engaged in normal reporting duties" and urged intervention from the Hong Kong government, which is one of APEC's 21 members. There was no immediate comment on the incident from Hong Kong's delegation at APEC.

But Aquino's spokesman Ricky Carandang said the reporters had crossed an ethical boundary.

"As a former journalist I know what it's like to aggressively question a subject," he told AFP in Bali.

"The behavior of these reporters crossed the line from mere questioning to heckling, and was even construed by Indonesian security personnel assigned to the president as a potential physical threat to him," he said.

Yahoo! News

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Philippines open bidding for ₱18 billion 2 New Frigates; No to Refurbished Italy Maestrale-class frigates as expensive

Lockheed Martin's Multi-Mission Combat Ship family Reportedly being offered is the 118-meter design (middle) (photo from Lockheed Martin website) 

5 Countries joining the bidding, namely:

United States of America (May Showcase their Lockheed Martin's Multi-Mission Combat Ship family, which is where the USN's Freedom-class LCS was based)

 Israel (Sa'ar Israel's Newest Next Generation Frigates to be offered to the Philippines)

Croatia (A newest member to EU effective July 1, 2013 May join with Swedish Manufacturer of Göteborg Class corvettes)

 Australia (Independence-class LCS, to be constructed in Cebu's Austal Philippines A consortium between Austal Australia and Austal Philippines)

 South Korea (Daewo's may offer the DW-3000H frigate and Hyundai Heavy Industries may offer their Incheon-class frigate Designs)

The Department of National Defense (DND) has finally earmarked ₱18 billion for two brand-new frigates for the Philippine Navy and opened the bidding for the ships aimed to boost military modernization.

"The DND/Armed Forces of the Philippines now invites bids for the acquisition of two units new construction frigates with ammunition for the Philippine Navy," DND Undersecretary for Bids and Awards Committee Fernando Manalo said in the invitation to bid.

As stated in the bidding announcement, the contract for the frigate project includes complete weapons systems.

The bidding will also be conducted through a two-stage competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary "pass/fail" criterion as specified in the Republic Act 9184 or otherwise known as the government procurement reform act.

Bidding documents may be purchased starting Thursday (October 3, 2013) worth ₱75,000. The pre-bid conference will be on October 11 at 10 a.m. at the DND BAC Conference Room, Right Wing Basement of the DND Building at Camp Aguinaldo.

Bidders are required to have delivered a project of similar scale in the last 10 years and will have to turn over the new vessel to the DND within 1,460 calendar days (4 years) from the opening of the letter of credit, or expected delivery by 2017-2018.

The DND said it will hold the pre-bidding conference on October 11, while the first stage of bidding is set on October 25 at the DND Bidding Awards Committee Conference Room, Basement, DND Building, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

The agency has acquired two second-hand Hamilton-class cutters BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15) and BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16) the past year. While the Del Pilar has started its service under the Navy, the Alcaraz is set to be commissioned this month.

Philippine Navy flag officer-in-charge Vice Admiral Jose Luis Alano has said that five countries have so far expressed interest in joining the bidding namely the US, Israel, Croatia, Australia and South Korea.

DND also said that purchasing brand new vessels are more cost-effective than pushing through with plans to acquire Italy's Maestrale-class frigates.

"We found out that it will be more expensive to maintain second hand vessel(s) than buying a new one," DND undersecretary Fernando Manalo said in a previous report.

The acquisition of the two frigates is part of the 24 projects that the DND plans to acquire through the AFP modernization funds worth ₱75 billion.

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