Singaporean airlines to increase capacity to PH due to high growth

SINGAPORE has viewed Philippines as among the rising stars of the Asean economies and perceived the Philippines’ large middle class as an indicator that its high economic growth rate will be sustained.

This, cccording to Orontes Castro, officerin-charge at the Office of the Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, is the main reason why Singapore is planning to increase its airline capacity to the Philippines.

Currently, there are 124 flights between Singapore and various Philippine destinations.

Castro said Singaporean tourism players are also considering expand- ing the tourism packages to Philippines.

He said such plans were indicated during a recent meeting of Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Antonio Morales, Philippine Trade and Investment Centre Commercial Counsellor Glenn Peñaranda and Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Investment Lim Hng Klang.

Meanwhile, Castro said Singapore welcomed Filipino workers who have been making significant contributions to the workforce.

“Filipinos’ competitive advantages in Singapore are their good English and technical skills,” he said.

Rob Subbaraman, Asia chief economist for Nomura based Singapore, has described Singapore as a very advanced economy with high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and a shrinking workforce because of worsening demographics.

“So it basically has to find more ways to squeeze out productivity,” he said in a recent interview with The Edge Singapore, a well-regarded business and investment newspaper.

Subbaraman, in the same media interview, also projected the continuing boom in the Philippines.

“They have done everything right in the past few years. It (Philippines) has become the darling economy of Southeast Asia. It is hard to fault in,” he said. Philexport News and Features