More investments urged in construction, IT-BPM sectors

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines wants more foreign investments in the construction and information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) sectors which are poised for continued growth, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

In a statement, the DTI’s export promotions arm Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions said developments in the construction and IT-BPM sectors were presented during the recent online forum of the DTI Expo 2020 Dubai Business Events Committee as part of efforts to attract more foreign investments to the country.

DCCD Engineering Corp.’s Michael Reyes said the Philippines’ construction industry shows promising growth prospects as the country is expected to generate as much as P130 trillion worth of projects from 2020 to 2030 through greater investments, participation in the global market, and a well-plotted industry road map.

He said the country’s construction sector value was just at around P2.3 trillion in 2018.

“Without the road map, we will just be attaining up to P4.3 trillion construction value by 2030,” he said.

By working with foreign industry partners in outsourcing Philippine talent, he said the sector would be able to forge stronger alliance with other countries for various construction projects abroad.

He said the Philippine construction industry continues to enhance skills of the workforce.

“For us to achieve this construction industry road map, we need to really do a lot of capacity building and improve the talents and the technical know-how of our workforce,” he said,

IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines executive director Luis Salvador said the industry managed to post growth despite the global slowdown brought by the pandemic.

Revenues of the country’s IT-BPM sector reached $26.7 billion last year, up slightly from the previous year’s $26.3 billion.

The sector’s full-time employee headcount grew by 1.8 percent to 1.32 million last year from the 2019 level.

According to global research firm Everest, which serves as IBPAPs knowledge partner, revenues of the country’s IT-BPM sector could grow by eight to 12 percent, while the full-time employee headcount may rise by seven to eight percent this year.