French bizmen eye Philippines as BPO hub

PARIS, France  —  Thirteen executives from top French firms are eyeing the Philippines as a possible business process outsourcing (BPO) hub due to the country’s strong economic performance, an envoy said Sunday.

Philippine Ambassador to France Maria Theresa Lazaro did not name the businessmen and the companies they are connected with but revealed that they are planning to go to Manila early next year to review their options.

“In March, they want to visit us and look at the prospects. These are top, top French companies and this is very good news," Lazaro told Radio TV Malacañang.

The Philippines continues to be a laggard in Southeast Asia in terms of foreign direct investments, data released recently by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development showed.

The Philippines only attracted $6.2-billion in FDI inflows last year, way lower than Singapore’s $67.52-billion, Indonesia’s $22.58-billion, Thailand’s $12.57-billion, Malaysia’s $10.79-billion and Vietnam’s $9.2-billion.

Some sectors have blamed red tape, corruption, bureaucratic inefficiencies and restrictions to foreign ownership for the Philippines's low investment inflows.

Lazaro said the sluggish economic growth in France, which was affected by the slowdown in the Eurozone, had prodded French businessmen to look for other possible investment sites. She claimed that the Philippines is on the radar of the investors because of its strong economic fundamentals.

"They saw the Philippines as a very good place to invest," Lazaro said.

She cited the latest outlook released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which stated that the growth of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam shows “mild moderation” but will remain “robust” at an average of 6.5 percent in 2016. The Philippine economy is also seen to grow by about 6 percent next year because of strong momentum in domestic demand and growing remittances.

The country’s economy grew by six percent in the third quarter, faster than the 5.8 percent posted in the previous quarter but lower than the expectations of some market analysts and economists. The figure is also below the government’s growth assumptions of seven to eight percent for this year and for 2016. 

Lazaro said the reciprocal visits of French President Francois Hollande to the Philippines and by President Beningno Aquino III to France last year also contributed to the stronger ties between the two countries.

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"France was not in our radar screen in terms of total relations but because of the visits, at the highest level, the relations is very, very good," she said.

Aquino is scheduled to arrive here this weekend to participate in the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.