Zobel de Ayala: PH to level up whoever is next CEO of the land

Jaime Augusto and Fernando Zobel de Ayala

THE PHILIPPINES is unlikely to reverse economic and governance gains seen in the last six years whoever the nation picks as the next president, business tycoon Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said on Friday.

Zobel, chair and chief executive officer of 182-year business powerhouse Ayala Corp., said as economies globalize and align to global standards, global trends would force the Philippines to level up.

“We believe in the country and we believe that irrespective of who gets chosen into a leadership position, the country will continue to progress,” he said in a press briefing after Ayala’s stockholders meeting.

“The reason why I believe that is that we’re interlinked globally now. From a standards point of view, from an economic point of view, the world looks at us and we can not escape and be in isolation from the trends that are taking place. I think, generally, these trends have taken standards up – (such as in) governance and leadership. You will have some better leaders, some worse ones but we have shown as an economy under the current leadership we have evolved as a country tremendously and moved forward . I don’t see the clock going backwards on that.”

As the next administration would inherit a government with a strong balance sheet and investment grade rating, Zobel said this could be used to “boldy start building up the infrastructure the country needs to take us to the next couple of decades.” At the same time, he said the next president should focus on attracting more foreign direct investments.

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