By Othel V.
Campos | Posted on May. 21, 2013 at 12:01am
[
manilastandardtoday.com ]
A group of
business process outsourcing companies warned Monday some of their members will
pull out of Manila if the peso continues to appreciate against the dollar.
The
Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines said
most members were trying to reduce cost either by postponing expansion or
relocating to more cost-friendly sites.
“With the
peso pegged at 41 to a dollar, the situation is still tolerable for BPM
[business process management] companies, but if the rate further increases the
value of peso, many will be forced to go somewhere else where cost will be more
or less manageable,” IBPAP deputy executive director Gillian Joyce Virata said
during the launch of the Philippine Information Technology and Business Process
Management Road Map 2012-2016.
Virata said
despite threats of relocation, the industry would still push for the adoption
of the industry roadmap, given the Philippines’ status as the world’s leading
site for voice services and the second world’s biggest industry for non-voice
services.
The revised
roadmap expects the industry to account for about 8 percent of the gross
domestic product by 2016, with revenues of $25 billion and employment of 1.3
million.
Moreover, the
return-on-investment will be 4 to 5 times higher for every peso of foregone
taxes from the incentives from 2005 to 2011.
Market
intelligence research firm the Everest Group said the Philippines was a mature
location for offshore information technology-business process management
services.
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