MANILA, Philippines -- Business outsourcing companies in the Philippines said Friday they expect continued growth, albeit at lower rates, despite the global financial turmoil.

"Admittedly, there will be a bit of cooling down on our growth numbers, but growth will definitely be there," the Business Processing Association of the Philippines said in a statement.

The group of call centers, software and animation producers and companies involved in offshore and outsourced services said it expected some clients to "reassess" their activities in the face of the crisis.

But the industry "will continue to present itself to major US companies as part of the solution while they undergo their own restructuring to save costs," the association said.

Its chairman Alfredo Ayala said the global outsourcing industry would follow the same patterns it has gone through in previous recessions -- a deceleration in growth rates in the short-term due to a slowdown in economic activities.

But this would be followed in the near and medium term by a surge as companies accelerated cost-cutting efforts.

"Given the anticipated steepness of this downturn, we anticipate healthy growth next year," Ayala said.

The group said it would continue to aggressively market its services worldwide as many companies still have not tapped the potential of outsourcing some of their functions.

The industry, one of the rising stars of the Philippine economy, previously said it was targeting annual revenues of $12-13 billion by 2010.

Last year, the industry saw revenues of $4.9 billion.