Focus on manufacturing fuels economic growth: Pernia

NEDA Director General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia (PNA Photo)

MANILA— The Philippines should continue focusing on manufacturing to drive economic growth amid the plateauing of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector’s development, said the country’s chief economist.

“We should continue to put emphasis on manufacturing not just of the traditional kinds of merchandise and goods, but also more advanced, more knowledge-based type, technically innovative goods,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia told reporters on Monday.

Pernia, also the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General, said there are other kinds of manufacturing products that needed to be developed apart from electronics.

“We have to diversify our manufacturing sector. We have to specialize in something where we have our inherent expertise. So in trade among countries, there will be specialization in terms of strengths and weaknesses,” he said.

Pernia earlier attributed the slowdown in the exports of services to the weakening of the BPO industry, an indication the sector was ripe to move into higher value-added services.

The NEDA chief thus urged BPO industry players to “equip themselves appropriately, so they can continue to be in business.”

“What we are saying is, you have to be conscious now of the technological advances, innovations. AI (artificial intelligence), for example, is a major challenge to an industry like BPO because then, there will be less need for people in the BPO if these things can be done by robots or machines,” he added.