While a majority of chief executive officers (CEOs) of Philippine firms are upbeat about their operations in the next 12 months, most of them believe it will take more than two years for the country's economy to recover from the pandemic, according to a survey of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) and PwC Philippines.
Results of the MAP-PwC 2022 CEO Survey showed that 87 percent of 119 CEO respondents said they were confident that their respective companies would post revenue growth in the next 12 months.
“Most CEOs saw renewed optimism of the country’s continued economic recovery and resilience,”said PWC managing partner for deals and corporate finance Mary Jade Roxas-Divinagracia.
However, she pointed out that the economy still has a long way to go before it could fully recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the new challenges, such as a change in local leadership coupled with geopolitical issues.
Based on the survey results, 52 percent of respondents believe it will take the country more than two years to recover while 67 percent identified corruption as the top factor that would delay the country’s economic recovery.
Other factors seen to affect the economy’s recovery are lower domestic and foreign investments (38 percent), political uncertainty (30 percent), uncontrolled inflation (29 percent) and rising oil prices (28 percent).
In contrast, 62 percent of CEOs identified infrastructure development as a key growth area of the economy in the next 12 months. This was followed by domestic consumption at 59 percent and government spending at 46 percent.
With a new administration in office, respondents of the survey said accountability and transparency, the fight against corruption, and attracting more foreign investments should be the top priorities of the new government.
Meanwhile, 44 percent of the CEOs believe that global economic growth will decline in the next 12 months.
“Similar to last year’s results, the CEOs identified the US and China as the most important countries for their company’s growth. These countries were also the Philippines’ top trading partners in 2021, having exported products worth $11.8 billion and $11.6 billion to the US and China, respectively,” MAP-PwC said.
The survey was conducted in mid-July to August.
Source: Philstar
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