• Across Asean, EU businesses most bullish in Phl

European businesses in the Philippines are the most bullish in Southeast Asia when it comes to expanding their operations, despite the country ranking poorly in terms of government and political system and prevalence of business-friendly customs procedures, a new EU-ASEAN Business Council report showed.

In the 2017 Business Sentiment Survey released last week, the Philippines registered the highest number of European companies indicating interest to expand operations at 71 percent, compared to the regional average of 58 percent.

European companies based in Cambodia and Indonesia came second and third with expansion interest levels of 68 percent and 63 percent, respectively, while those in Brunei had the lowest level at 33 percent.

With strong interest to expand, some 52 percent of European companies based in the country are also expecting to increase headcount in the coming years.

The survey also asked companies based in the ASEAN-6 to rate their satisfaction on a number of doing business factors within their response location.

The Philippines ranked first in availability of skilled and competitively priced labor and ease of recruiting labor.

The country, however, finished last in terms of government and political system and prevalence of businessfriendly customs procedures.

It also ranked second to last in the areas of ease of importing goods, regulatory regime, fiscal structures, infrastructure and administrative costs for business.

Meanwhile, majority of survey respondents or 62 percent see a free trade agreement (FTA) between the Philippines and the European Union as beneficial to business, while 50 percent of respondents think the lack of an EU-ASEAN FTA put European businesses in the Philippines at a disadvantage.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents or 71 percent also said ASEAN economic integration is key to business success in the Philippines.

In addition, 70 percent of European businesses said they do not expect the Brexit fallout to have a significant impact on their businesses in the Philippines.

EU-ABC chairman Donald Kanak said the outcome of the survey reveals how positive European businesses are in the Philippines amid the recent political noises.

On a regional scale, the report showed European businesses continue to have a very positive outlook in Southeast Asia and expect to see ASEAN profits increase.

“ASEAN is becoming the next key driver of global economic growth. This survey shows that European businesses will continue to contribute to ASEAN by increased trade, investment and employment. Respondents strongly support a deep and comprehensive a region-to-region EU-ASEAN FTA to enable greater European investment in the region and continued collaboration on reducing trade barriers and trade frictions,” Kanak said.

The third annual EUASEAN Business Sentiment Survey polled more than 300 executives from European companies around Southeast Asia. Of these, 51 senior executives came from European firms based in the Philippines.