Doing business in the Philippines

Red tape is the elastic band that pulls Entrepreneurs back and stops them from creating business and GDP. Governments must provide legislature for business without impeding their creative spirit, and one country that must be commended is the Philippines according to a doing business survey published by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Tuesday, October 29 2013

The Philippines climbed 30 places in the survey which measures the amount of bureaucracy a business has to endure to become successful enough to stay in a particular country. This comes after a long period of decline for the country and the survey sees them now ranking  in the top ten for improving their business procedures. The Philippines was also ranked 6th in the ASEAN region in the survey.

The main reasons for this improvement were:

• Improvement was online tax compliance making it easier for business to file their tax returns online.
• Making it easier to obtain a permit for construction projects from 29 steps to just 25 with an overall aim of just 12 steps.
• Simplifying the borrowing process to have access to the country’s largest credit bureau.
• Making it easier to start a business The Aquino government was eager on improving the number of steps it takes to start a business. The aim of the government’s team responsible was to; halve the previous 36 days to 16 days it took for an SME to get started. The rank for the Philippines would have been much better but for this step was the hardest and alas a business person still needs to wait 35 days to secure 15 permits before they can commence operations

The survey also concluded that Hong Kong and Singapore were the easiest places to do business and other global notables were New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, Malaysia, South Korea, Georgia, Norway, and the United Kingdom Also interesting was Myanmar’s first ever entry into the list!

There are many other reasons why the Philippines has been gaining  popularity with business people, reasons like:

• The government of the Philippines seeks overseas investment to promote their economic development, and has worked to establish investment landscape with free trade zones, through the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEAZ).
• The workforce in the Philippines has an edge; with one of the most compelling advantages the Philippines has over any other Asia country; that being their high educational priority. They are the world’s third largest English speaking country.
• The Philippines is gifted with diverse natural resources, from land to marine to mineral resources. They are the largest copper producer in Southeast Asia and among the top ten producers of gold in the world.
• The cost of doing business in the Philippines is very competitive, as wages are typically lower than fifth of that of the United States. The electricity, local communication, and housing costs are 50% lower compared to the US rates.

What are your reasons for chosing to do business in the Philippines?