Philippine Economic Updates with Greg Wyatt of Philippine Strategic Associates (PSA)
PSA Consultancy
Derek Gallimore talks with Greg Wyatt, Director of Business Intelligence at PSA Consultancy. Based in Makati, Philippines, the company provides risk consultancy services to businesses of all sizes. Greg has been a guest in previous episodes of the podcast.
I(n this episode, hear Derek and Greg discuss the updates on the Philippine economy amid the incoming administration and the bright future of the BPO industry.
Outsource Accelerator CEO Derek Gallimore talks with Greg Wyatt. He is the director of business intelligence at Philippine Strategic Associates (PSA).
A risk consultancy firm based in Metro Manila, PSA caters to two broad sets of service lines: consulting work and reporting service.
In this episode, Derek and Greg discuss the current situation of the post-election setting of the country, the country’s economy dealing with food security and risk, and the outsourcing industry in times of the pandemic.
How Greg Wyatt sees the new presidency
Greg implies that the Philippines has a “very strong presidential system” that creates uncertainties right after the election. He added that there are a lot of questions hanging to be answered for inventors or in the business community itself.
However, Greg believes that the economy has been managed by the “technocrats” since the incoming Marcos appointed his economic team.
Despite the specific policies soon to be imposed, he says the business community is happy to have a “technocratic team of professionals [that will] be in charge of the economy.”
Yet, there is a big question underlying this uncertainty, and that would probably have to be with the “global financial and global economic situation” and “how the Philippines is going to navigate it.”
The advantage of the Public Service Act for investors
Derek explains that the implementation of the Public Service Act enabled more foreign investment and foreign ownership in the Philippines.
Greg believes that the Public Service Act appears to be beneficial in the upcoming administration, particularly from the investment and economic perspective.
Greg sees that the Act will be more advantageous for local conglomerates as “this raises the value of their assets,” an opportunity to gain more profit so “they can reinvest” elsewhere.
He added that because of the Public Service Act has already put “major interest in the international investment” in the country.
That said, Greg has been optimistic about the impact of the said act. He reiterated that he’s much more “inclined to think that it’s going to generate new growth,” and this will provide “significant change” in the next few years.
The thriving outsourcing industry amid COVID-19
Derek mentioned that the outsourcing industry is typically a “counter-cyclical sector” which generally sees growth even in the economic recessions.
Greg agreed with this and predicted that the BPO industry would “generally grow” and the economy itself over the next years. With this, he emphasizes that in order to achieve this, governments must outgrow the current level of debt.
He believes that the Philippine economy will probably be going to grow by about 6%. Greg mentioned several industries that will affect this growth, including the renewable energy sector, agriculture, mining industry as well the BPO sector.
Greg added that a lot of people wondered if the BPO industry would “grow or shrink” because of the impact of a pandemic.
However, it has experienced significant growth since people are working from home, and people resort to offshoring outsourcing and see this now as necessary.
How the BPO industry handles the return-to-office mandate
Greg explained that in order to achieve tax incentives, 90% of operations in BPOs must work in the Philippines Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
As such, he says that this created uncertainty for companies in PEZA zones, whether they will benefit in tax benefits or not unless they’re all back in the office.
Greg implies that the Department of Finance tightens the tax incentives. This contributed as most of the regulatory issues involving the BPO industry are more tied up with these PEZA zones.
However, even though there are specific regulatory issues in the Philippines right now, Greg is optimistic that the BPO industry will continue to be competitive.
“The BPO industry was afforded all kinds of exemptions and support during the COVID 19 pandemic, and it grew during the COVID 19 pandemic,” he says.
Visit https://psaconsultancy.com/ to learn more about Philippine Strategic Associates and to get in touch with Greg.
Listen to more podcast episodes here:
- Silicon Valley’s Global VA Platform – with Roland Polzin of Wing Assistant
- Philippine Property & BPO Updates with Morgan McGilvray of Santos Knight Frank
- The Future of Global Employment with Futurist Richard Jaimes
- Inside Outsourcing – How Remote Work, Outsourcing & Global Employment is Changing the World
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