With dire predictions about the economy as the norm nowadays, the head of the country?s biggest business house has painted a completely different ? and more optimistic ? picture of Philippine prospects for next year.

In a speech before businessmen gathered for a charitable event Monday, Ayala Corp. chairman and chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said Philippine economic fundamentals were in ?good shape? despite all the bad news coming from developed countries.

?The Philippine economy is not too dependent on exports and on foreign investments,? Zobel de Ayala said, noting that all-important inflows of foreign exchange were being provided by the big number of expatriate Filipinos.

?The economy is more dependent on stable OFW [overseas Filipino worker] remittances,? and OFWs are not likely to lose their jobs abroad because more of them are in industries less exposed than others to the global slowdown, he said.

He added that the Philippines was in better position than before to face the effects of financial market shocks because of its large reserves of foreign exchange.

?Today, we have a completely different picture? from that during the 1997 financial crisis, ?thanks to the policies of the Bangko Sentral,? he said, referring to the central bank.

The central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, has at least $36 billion in foreign exchange reserves, almost four times the level it had when during the regional financial crisis a decade ago.

Zobel de Ayala?s views contrast sharply with the gloom and doom scenarios painted by many foreign analysts and multilateral funding agencies that have warned that the Philippines will feel the full brunt of the US-led financial crisis in 2009.

He cited predictions by analysts that the Philippines would grow 3.2-5.0 percent next year, compared to with forecasts ranging from a contraction of 0.7 percent to a growth of at most 0.7 percent for the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom.

He said the Philippines? prospects were shared by other Asian countries in general, especially the so-called ASEAN 5 ? the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. These countries are expected to report slower but stable growth rates despite the global slowdown.

Even Philippine corporations are better-situated than ASEAN counterparts to face an economic slowdown, especially as most of them have relatively healthy levels of debt, Zobel de Ayala said.

On average, Philippine corporations have debt-to-equity ratios of about 52 percent ? P52 in debt for every P100 in equity ? which is the second-lowest in the region after Singapore?s 42 percent. The gearing ratios are higher in Thailand (57 percent), Malaysia (60 percent) and Indonesia (70 percent).

On the Philippine financial system, Zobel de Ayala also singled out an indicator of overall health: ?The Philippines is one of the very few countries that didn?t have to guarantee bank deposits? in the wake of the crisis, he said. ?That is quite extraordinary.? Edited by INQUIRER.net