Looking up ahead

Businesswise, 2017 was not a bad year. In fact, many believe the country achieved its target growth of at least 6.5 percent, which is not bad for an economy that was among the worst performers in the region last year.

It is still a wait-and-see attitude for most because of TRAIN which contains personal tax exemptions for the lower-income bracket and promises bigger take-home pays. On the other hand, TRAIN also provides for raised excise taxes on basic goods and products like fuel and vehicles which will result in increased transportation costs and costlier electricity at least until 2020. Our government’s target is to raise some

P8.9 trillion for our ambitious infrastructure program which is expected to cost some P9 trillion. For the franchise sector, the 25th

Asia Expo which marked the Philippine Franchise Association’s 25th year saw more participating companies (350 to be exact), proof that franchising continued to boom in the Philippines in 2017, especially in the food and beverage sector which accounts for 50 percent of the market. This was shared by Mr. Richard Sanz, president of PFA which counts some 200 member companies, and also the chief executive officer of Philippine Food Asia Corp. New concepts are reportedly doing very well and will continue to do so in 2018. These include self-service laundry, cleaning services, children’s recreation, automotive products and services and retirement homes. The PFA is not afraid of the influx of foreign brands because our home-grown brands have also invaded foreign shores, notably Potato Corner which has some 50 stores in the US and 100 stores and counting in Indonesia and Thailand. This is amazing for a simple business concept that was started in the Philippines and grew exponentially in the global market. Jollibee, which counts 250 stores abroad, and

Bench, continue to expand globally and PFA is now more seriously preparing for mobile commerce and e-commerce which they see as the next frontier.

On the banking front, BDO Unibank still dominated in 2017 with P2.48 trillion in assets followed closely by Metrobank & Trust Co. with assets of P1.63 trillion. In the No. 3 spot is Bank of

the Philippine Islands with P1.54 trillion in assets, Land Bank of the Philippines with P1.48 trillion. Not quite reaching the trillion mark is Security Bank with assets of P796.56 billion at No. 5 spot and the Philippine National Bank with P758.92 billion at No. 6.

With increased international trade activities, Philexport president Sergio Ortiz-Luis reported that Philippine exports recovered as early as late 2016 and carried over to 2017 with a three to four percent growth on merchandise export. According to the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP), export sales may reach $1 billion in 2018, which translates to a remarkable growth of 10 percent, year-on-year, as we were in the receiving end of spill-over orders from our neighbors in the region. The biggest growth is still from the services sector which is not unusual, but for 2017, the manufacturing sector was closely catching up with the services sector, particularly for electronics and semi-conductors, farm food products, furniture and marine products.

Exporters are not worried by TRAIN because export products have not been affected, but this sector is still very much in need of government support. Mr. Luis-Ortiz reiterates his appeal to the government to realign at least about 20 percent of the P80 billion Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program to provide financing for qualified MSMEs. True, several impoverished families benefit from the CCT program, but our local MSMEs have no access to financing and, thus, cannot grow their business. With some allocation from the government, we can provide the necessary financing which may, in turn, generate more employment and the government can see some returns on this financing scheme, if the beneficiaries are vetted properly.

The Philippine stock market reported a very good 2017 after doing rather badly for two years in a row. Last year, four new companies were listed. These were Wilcon Depot, Eagle

Cement Corp., Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. and Cebu Landmasters. PSE has granted new IPO licenses for 2018 so expect more frenzied activity at the bourses this year.

For 2018, we hope to see more home grown brands stepping boldly on foreign shores and invading them with a bang. The success story of Potato Corner is so inspiring indeed.

Though we do not have huge tracts of land for coffee farming like Brazil for instance, we hope Philippine artisanal coffee will make the grade in the global coffee scene. We share the advocacy of Chit Juan and believe that Philippine coffee, like our Sagada coffee for instance, can stand together with Brazilian coffee in the burgeoning coffee culture.

This also holds true for Philippine chocolates which have started to invade the main stream chocolate culture because of the international awards we have reaped in 2016 and 2017. May 2018 be an even better year for this sector.

We may not have achieved our goal of self-sufficiency in rice, but with the growing acceptance of Philippine hybrid rice, we may get there yet. Our hope is that more and more Philippine rice farmers embrace this new technology in rice production as advocated by Mr. Henry Lim Bon Liong of SL Agritech, the pioneer of local hybrid rice who has successfully perfected his technology and shared it with hundreds of Filipino farmers. With hybrid rice, farmers have increased their yields from their modest-sized rice farms more than four-fold and uprooted their families from poverty.

And lastly, we hope for a more robust telco industry. With competition, consumers end up winning. China wants to enter the local telco market, and Australia’s Telstra Corp. Ltd. is likewise positioning itself to enter the Philippine market so the present duopoly is gearing up for fierce competition.

With Smart’s billion-peso recent partnership with China’s information and communication technology leader Huawei, the company promises better electronic loading for its pre-paid subscribers. Can Globe be far behind? Have a prosperous, dynamic and progressive 2018.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino. For comments & inquiries (email) sunshine.television@ yahoo.com