UK Export Finance

Discover what the UK offers in finance to support major projects when buying UK Goods and services.

UK export finance

Clink on the link below to see a presentation of the UK Export Finance Scheme

> > UK export Finance – Competitive finance when you buy from the UK < <

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Calling All Philippines Marching Bands

We have been contacted by the organisers of the Liverpool Waves Music Festival who are keen to attract Marching Bands from all over the world to their festival in Liverpool.

Dates for the first festival will be from

July 4th – August 18th 2024

 There will be various performances throughout these dates.

Liverpool WaVeS Music and Marching Band Festival is not a competition but a showcase of some of the best youth and community groups from around the world, coming to assemble here in Liverpool in the United Kingdom, one of the most renowned cities in the world for music heritage.

We aim to have a mix of marching bands and drumlines / corps with their colour guards and cheerleaders, orchestras, non-marching bands including jazz, symphonic and show bands, vocal groups, choirs and not forgetting the dance groups throughout the summer, making this a truly multicultural visual music festival.

The festival organisers have been in talks for many months with high schools and community groups from many areas around the world including; Japan, USA, Canada, Thailand, Australia, Europe, South America and as far away as Tonga, with a good response from groups keen to come and perform here in Liverpool at the festival.

It is recognised that the cost for a band from the Philippines to visit the UK could be prohibitive and therefore sponsors may need to be identified to cover some or all of the costs. Interested bands and sponsors should contact John Perry at johnstevenperry@yahoo.co.uk.

Further information can be found at http://www.liverpoolwaves.com

 

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TINIG UK

I had the great pleasure this week meeting Liezel Longboan, the editor of the website Tinig UK – The voice of Filipinos in the UK (tinig-uk.com)

TINIG means VOICE in Tagalog and therefore it is the voice of Filipinos in the UK. It provides news and information to the Filipino community in the UK and organises events relevant to the community.  One such event coming up in the near future is:

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Philippines Economy Update January 2023

economic indicators
  • The Philippine Gross Domestic Product (GDP) posted growth of 7.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2022, exceeding the median analyst forecast of 6.3 per cent. This puts the Philippines firmly in second place in terms of highest growth in the region and on track to achieving the government’s growth target of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent in 2022.
  • The main drivers for growth in the third quarter were wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, financial and insurance activities, and construction.
  • Major economic sectors posted positive growth in the third quarter, including agriculture, forestry and fishing at 2.2 per cent, industry at 7.7 per cent, and services at 9.1 per cent.  
  • Household consumption and investment helped drive growth on the demand side as more Filipinos returned to regular activities after the pandemic.
  • The relaxation of border restrictions and simplified travel protocols helped provide a boost to tourism and other related sectors. From February to November 2022, the Philippines recorded 2,219,634 tourist arrivals.
  • The unemployment rate declined and is now at 5 per cent, the lowest since January 2020. This equates to a decrease of 1.8 million unemployed individuals.
  • The Philippine government aims to reinvigorate job creation and reduce poverty rates to single-digit levels. Similar to many other countries in the world today, the Philippines is currently dealing with higher levels of inflation but the government is taking the necessary steps to address this.
  • President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has also identified food security as a top priority of his administration. The government will boost domestic agricultural production and sustain agricultural productivity and resilience through climate-adaptive technologies.
  • The Philippines remains committed to supporting businesses and creating a more enabling regulatory and investment environment through the full implementation of landmark reforms such as the amendments to the Public Service Act, Foreign Investments Act, Retail Trade Liberalization Act, and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises or the CREATE law.

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority; National Economic and Development Authority

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Forum on The Philippines’ Role in your Global Business

Forum 23 03 2021

The Philippines is poised to recover strongly post-pandemic due to its strong economic fundamentals and responsive government interventions. With the capability and capacity to host critical activities and high growth industries through its highly skilled, resilient, innovative and adaptable workforce, foreign investors continue to show confidence in the Philippines evident with the country’s FDI experiencing an increase by almost a third in contrast with the decline in global FDIs in 2020.

The DTI-Board of Investments presents “Make It Happen in the Philippines: A Forum on the Philippines’ Role in Your Global Business.” Learn more about business opportunities in the country and our attractive business environment as economic experts discuss updates on the Philippine investment climate and investors share insights and experiences in growing their business in the Philippines. The Forum is on 23rd March 2021 at 09.00 GMT.

The Speakers
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Ramon Lopez Secretary Department of Trade and Industry 
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Ceferino Rodolfo Undersecretary Department of Trade and Industry 
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Rosemarie Edillon Undersecretary National Economic Development Authority 
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Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala Chairman & CEO
Ayala Corporation
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Elmar Lutter President & CEO Lufthansa Technik Philippines
Join us in our first virtual event of the year for Europe!
Register HERE
Together, we can Make it Happen! 

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Feb 12

Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) New Passenger Terminal Project

Further information of the bidding process for the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) New Passenger Terminal Project has been provided by the Philippines Trade and Investment centre in London.

The DOTC and MCIA Authority are inviting Prospective Bidders to apply to pre-qualify and bid to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the new PhP17.5 Billion terminal development project. cheap flights

The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located on Mactan Island in Cebu Province in the Philippines, is the second largest airport in the Philippines in terms of passenger traffic. For 2011, said terminal handled 6.2 million passengers despite the design capacity of the existing terminal of only 4.5 million passengers.  Hence, MCIA clearly needs to expand, especially since passenger traffic has grown by an unprecedented rate of 13% for the last 10 years.

The following relevant information on the Bidding Process are:

  • The project will be awarded through competitive public bidding pursuant to a two-stage public bidding process and in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders, the Philippine Build-Operate- Transfer (BOT) Law (Republic Act No. 6957, as amended by the Republic Act No.7718) (“BOT Law”), and its 2012 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (“Revised IRR”).
  • In this process, Prospective Bidders must submit their Pre-Qualification Documents, by the Pre-Qualification Documents Submission Date, to pre-qualify for participation in the Bidding Process. Prospective Bidders who fulfill the requirements to pre-qualify shall be shortlisted as Pre-Qualified Bidders. Only the Pre-Qualified Bidders shall be invited and allowed to submit a Bid for the Project subsequently.
  • Bidding is open to all interested bidders, subject to the conditions for eligibility under the BOT Law and the Invitation Documents. The Invitation Documents, consisting of (i) this Invitation to Pre-Qualify and Bid, (ii) the Instructions to Prospective Bidders and its Annexes, and (iii) Project Information will be available at Unit 153, 15th Floor, The Columbia Tower, Brgy. Wack-Wack, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines. for distribution to interested parties from 27 December 2012 to 25 February 2013.
  • The Invitation Documents will be issued to Prospective Bidders upon the payment by the Prospective Bidder of a non-refundable fee of Php1M in cash or managers check issued by a bank in the Philippines made out to the Department of Transportation and Communications.
  • Only entities who have purchased the Invitation Documents shall be allowed to participate in the Pre-qualification and the Bidding Process.

The two documents listed below provide further detailed information on the Bidding opportunity. Click on the links to get the documents.

MCIA_Project Backgrnd

MCIA_ITPBFinal

 

 

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Jan 31

Philippines Economy – 2013 Outlook

We have seen a much stronger than expected performance by the Philippines economy in 2012, with 7% in sight for this year, 2013. Sound policy developments and underlying fundamentals provide a solid foundation for confidence in the Philippines in the short term. Longer term, the challenge is for further economic reform to make sure that growth is sustainable. UK export growth of 21% topped off an excellent year for UK business – but there are challenges to some of our big ticket ambitions, especially infrastructure.2013 outlook

What happened in 2012?

The Philippines economy was one of the global star performers in 2012 with growth accelerating over 6%. This is well above the 3.7% in 2011 and above the average over the last 10 years (5%). Growth in Q3 of 7.3% was second only to China in Asia. The deficit is below 3% of GDP, and debt around 50% and declining. The description of the Philippines as “the diamond of the region” by an RBS economist in November has been proudly replayed by media and policy-makers alike. One of the few outliers was Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which remained flat and significantly behind other ASEAN countries.

There were a number of factors in this success: including strong inflows of remittances from overseas contract workers, and international investment funds diversifying from less promising markets. But policy-makers have also steered a stable and sensible course. The Philippine central bank cut interest rates four times (now 3%) and introduced prudential regulations to fend off asset price bubbles in fast-growing sectors. On fiscal policy, President Aquino secured timely passage of the budget and brought forward infrastructure spending. He pushed through a number of important economic reforms, including landmark laws on reproductive health (in part to address the development impacts of high population growth) and alcohol and tobacco tax reform.

The stock market rose 24% to become one of Asia’s top performers. The government bond rating is hovering just below investment grade and strong improvements have been recorded in WEF’s International Competitiveness Survey (up another 10 ranks in two consecutive years) and Transparency International’s Corruption Index (up 24 ranks, and now better than Indonesia and Vietnam). The peso also strengthened by 6.2% in the past year.

Most estimates suggest the economy will grow at around 7% in 2013. This is based on projections of robust consumer spending, private investments and public spending on infrastructure (though not on PPP). Election-related spending (the midterms are in May 2013, and there is traditionally a spike in spending by local politicians beforehand) will help too.

On the reform side, Congress looks likely to remove airline taxes which have ended direct flights to the Philippines by European carriers. An overhaul of the national health insurance system is in the pipeline. But some other legislative bills such as anti-money laundering and anti-trust seem unlikely to make the statute books. Mining policy remains problematic, with the President reluctant to take on strong anti-mining interests: a new policy adopted last year will make it difficult to press ahead with large-scale projects.

Foreign exchange appreciation poses challenges. Exporters and recipients of overseas remittances are concerned, as is the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, which fears the impact on competitiveness. However, a stronger peso is helping deliver lower inflation, eg through cheaper oil imports and dollar loans. The central bank says it will not seek to run against the fundamentals, although it has hinted at strengthened capital controls to curb inflows of hot money.

UK exports to the Philippines rose 21% in the first 10 months of 2012. London and Edinburgh-based fund-managers increased their positions. Philippine Airlines’ major purchase of Airbus demonstrated the benefits to the UK of an increasingly self-confident Philippine private sector. UKTI ran a successful range of missions across a wide range of sectors, culminating in the December Smart Cities mission. Less encouragingly, was the reduced number of PPP projects the Philippine government bid out.

The Philippines is genuinely doing well. The country enjoys clear competitive advantages. These include a young, English-speaking workforce, connectivity with other high-growth Asian markets, and a generally low cost-base. Investor concerns about other markets, will also continue to benefit the Philippines.

However, it will be important that the heady growth does not sate appetite for economic reform. The Philippines remains over-reliant on overseas remittances and real estate, on a BPO sector which is world-class but delivers limited new jobs, and on a still underdeveloped manufacturing sector too narrowly focused around electronic components. Economic power is too concentrated and this holds back development. More needs to be done to diversify the economy and increase competition.

This summary report was prepared by UKTI.
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Jan 28

Motor Vehicles in the Philippines

When you visit Manila, it seems as though all the motor vehicles in the Philippines are in Manila at the same time. getting around Manila is relatively easy, but can take some time during peak periods.Manila Traffic

The World Bank has published statistics for the number of motor vehicles per 1,000 population for a lot of countries in the world, including the Philippines. “Motor vehicles” includes cars, buses, and freight vehicles but does not include two-wheelers.The number per 1,000 for the Philippines is an average of 30 for the period 2008 to 2012.

The population of the Philippines is approximately 98 million, so this means that there are some 29.4 million motor vehicles in the Philippines.

So, how does this compare with other countries? Some comparisons in Europe are:

 

United Kingdom 519
Germany 572
Italy 679
Netherlands 527
Sweden 520
Spain 593

The Americas are also an interesting comparison:

 

Canada 607
Mexico 275
United States 797

But how does the Philippines compare with the countries nearer to it in South East Asia?

 

China 58
Japan 591
Malaysia 361
Myanmar 7
Singapore 149
Thailand 157

Some of the other countries in SE Asia do not have any figures so the comparison is quite limited.

So what conclusion can you draw from these figures? Firstly, there are a lot of vehicles in the Philippines! A high concentration is obviously in Manila. Some of the rural and remote areas will have very few vehicles, although the ubiquitous jeepney gets to most places.

Secondly, there is clearly an opportunity for more vehicles as the population becomes more wealthy arising out of the economic development of the country.

Thirdly, there is a high reliance on public transport throughout the Philippines and this has plenty of scope for further development to develop the whole public transport infrastructure throughout the Philippines. New transport infrastructure in manila is well underway through various PPP initiatives.

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Jan 25

Philippine Star, London Eye

The British Ambassador to the Philippines is a man of many talents! He has a weekly column in the Philippine Star, London Eye featuring stories and opinions on the Philippines and the UK.philstar logo

The Philippine Star is a daily English-language broadsheet newspaper based in Manila in the Philippines. It has the most subscribers of any newspaper in the Philippines and serves as one of the country’s newspapers of record. Owned and published by PhilSTAR Daily, Inc, it was founded on July 28, 1986 by veteran journalists Max Soliven, Betty Go-Belmonte and Art Borjal in the wake of the EDSA People Power Revolution. The Philippine STAR has an established circulation in Hong Kong and in Saudi Arabia.

The Philippine Star is the most read broadsheet in the Philippine capital of Metro Manila, with a Monday-to-Saturday readership of 47.4 percent.

The London Eye provides features on a wide range of topics, all connected with the work of an Ambassador and the strong business relationship between Britain and the Philippines.

Recent articles by Stephen Lillie include the following titles: 

The G8 — why it matters globally

New Year’s resolutions

2012: Remembering the past, focusing on the future

International relations and what I’m here to do

Building smarter cities

More than a slogan

Less violence and more women leaders

Demystifying the UK visa service

The leadership challenge

A thoughtful All Saints Day

The end of the beginning…

A world built on trade

 

To access these the Philippine Star, London Eye articles and features, please follow the link  http://www.philstar.com/author/Stephen%20Lillie/LONDON%20EYE.

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