Businessmen not as bullish about RP outlook for rest of year

Slim prospects for job seekers.

The business community yesterday warned of lower investments and shrinking job opportunities in the remaining months of the year, citing the worsening political instability in the country.

The Makati Business Club (MBC) reported many companies are now expecting a decline in gross revenues while fewer have announced plans to make additional investments in the last quarter of the year.

"Based on the findings in the Executive Outlook Survey done last July, commercial establishments are not as bullish on their performance this year," the MBC said.

The MBC released a survey which showed the number of companies planning to expand operations went down from 47 percent in January to only 39.4 percent last July.

MBC also noted that companies expecting a decline in earnings also doubled from 4.3 percent in January to 10.6 percent in July. About one-fifth of companies are expecting no change relative to their performance last year.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) also shared the same gloomy scenario for the business community in the last quarter of the year due to the prevailing political crisis.

"So far, the business (sector) has not been the usual because of political uncertainty," ECOP president Rene Soriano said.

Soriano added many businessmen are holding back from pouring in additional investments until the situation improves.

"And as long as investors have not decided to pour in their money or expand their business, the quest of the Arroyo government to generate 1.5 million new jobs a year may not be achievable," Soriano pointed out.

The Department of Labor and Employment earlier admitted that aside from the continuing oil price hikes, the ongoing political crisis has also resulted in fewer jobs generated in the past months.

In the same MBC survey, the percentage of companies expecting increases in net income slid from 60 percent in January to 56.4 percent in July. Business firms expecting declines more than doubled from 8.6 percent in January to 18.1 in July.

It was fortunate that 67 percent of respondent businesses bared their plans to retain their workforce as compared to 60 percent last January.

About 20 percent of the companies have plans to expand their workforce as compared to over 27 percent last January. Only 8.5 percent of the respondent firms announced plans to lay off workers.