US companies bullish on trade prospects in PH

Nine of 10 American business executives are bullish about prospects in so-called “high growth and emerging markets” (HGEM) like the Philippines, audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG reported.

Citing the results of a recent poll it conducted in the United States, KPMG said the optimism of American executives on emerging markets rose to 90 percent this year—up 13 percentage points from last year.

“High growth and emerging markets have moved to the top of the corporate agenda, and companies are investing beyond the BRIC [Brazil, Russia, India and China] countries,” Mark Barnes of KPMG said in a statement.

“Frontier markets” such as Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—whose economies are expected to grow by up to 7 percent in the near term—would also attract an influx of US investments, Barnes added.

Executives are also considering expansion into a wider number of HGEMs, the survey revealed.

“Currently, US companies have investments of more than $5 million predominantly in China and Brazil, followed by India, Mexico and select Latin American and Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries. In the next 12 months, executives plan more than $5 million in investments in China, increased activity in India, and decreased activity in Brazil, Mexico and Russia,” KPMG said.

The survey showed that investments of over $5 million would be infused into the Philippines this year by 10 percent of the American firms polled—up from only 6 percent last year. The Philippines ranked 7th among the top HGEM destinations of US investments in 2014, after China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Argentina among others. It was also the highest ranked among Asean country, slightly ahead of Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

But the percentage of respondents who plan to pour capital investments worth over $5 million into the Philippines … dropped to 2 percent from 6 percent last year. In Asean, Vietnam led the pack with 9 percent of American companies surveyed eyeing fresh investments in the country in the near-term,” KPMG said.

The survey was conducted last spring among 100 American business executives who are involved in business development and corporate strategy.