Investors now eyeing Philippines

The Philippines is benefiting more and more from China’s increasing wage inflation as companies in the region turn to other countries with their investments.

According to Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, even native Chinese companies are keen on locating in the Philippines.

“There have been movements from China to the Philippines. We have gotten increased queries from Chinese, Japanese and Korean firms,” he told reporters in a recent interview.

Domingo declined to give specific names, saying only that these potential investors were a mix of medium and large companies, some of them multinationals.

A survey conducted by Chinese media group Caixin a few months ago showed that labor costs in China continued to increase due to higher demand for labor and rising salaries.

Labor-intensive companies, such as those in the garments and textile sectors, are now feeling the pinch from this accelerated wage inflation, the Caixin survey found.

Some garments factories in China have already transferred their operations to the Philippines due to increasing labor costs in the mainland, Domingo said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is expecting to increase its investment haul for the year, and looks forward to another good year in 2012.

According to PEZA director general Lilia de Lima, the PEZA board has further increased its investment growth target for the year to more than 11 percent.

Initially set at 10 percent, PEZA has revised the target to 11 percent, due to the expected increase in investments, exports, and employment for the year, she said.

And given the success of recent investment missions, de Lima said PEZA’s investment pledges for the year could grow by more than 11 percent.

PEZA last year registered a little over P201 billion in investments, $40.47 billion in exports, and 735,672 in employment.