THE British government sees more private investments of UK-based firms in the Philippines, citing good opportunities for goods, services and expertise, specifically the growing outsourcing industry.

British ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham, at the same time, noted “significant progress” in the good governance program in the poor provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that could contribute to a good investment climate in the country.

UK Embassy records noted that the balance of trade between Britain and the Philippines has been favoring the Philippines in the last few years.

“The United Kingdom sees the Philippines as a large and growing market with good opportunities for British goods, services and expertise,” said the UK Embassy paper furnished to the BusinessMirror.

The document noted that the British exports to the Philippines in 2006 reached £243.5 million, but the Philippine exports to the United Kingdom has reached a higher amount of £755.5 million in 2006.

Top imports (from the Philippines) include electrical and office equipment and machinery, apparel, miscellaneous manufactured material, road vehicles, fish products, textile fibers, yarn and made-up articles.

At the same time, top UK exports to the Philippines include electrical apparatus/appliances and spares, medical and pharmaceutical products, manufactured metals, office and ADP machinery, general industrial machinery and power-generating machinery.

Beckingham, meanwhile, cited the contribution of UK-funded Local Poverty Reduction Action Teams (LPRATs) that promote economic growth at the grassroots level.

The LPRAT project seeks to engage communities in the grassroots level into the management of local-government funds and decision-making in the programs that have high impact on the lives of the poor people.

“In the long term, the project will contribute to improving human-development conditions in poor municipalities in ARMM by improving governance,” said Beckingham. The project seeks to train local people to produce strong project proposal bids, access and manage central government and donor funding, and manage projects so that they have a positive impact on a range of social, economic and development goals.

The British document, meanwhile, noted that the overseas Filipino workers in its territory, mostly highly competent nurses, continue to “buoy up” the national economy. There are around 200,000 highly paid Filipino nurses in the United Kingdom, according to government estimates.

The UK document cited that among the top British major investments in the Philippines are concentrated in power, energy, water and financial services. There are at least 200 British companies in the Philippines composed of big multinationals to small “one-man shows.”

These British companies operating in the Philippines include Shell, HSBC, BG, Standard Chartered, Misys and BAT.

“A number of British companies are active in successful retail franchising. These include Debenhams, M & S, Wallis, Clarks Shoes, Top Shop, Burberry, Tower Records and Lush,” the UK document said.

THE few hundred foreign tourists who used to seek out Filipino faith healers in the 1970s now number in the hundreds of thousands a year, only this time they are in search of full medical service and recovery.

THE British government sees more private investments of UK-based firms in the Philippines, citing good opportunities for goods, services and expertise, specifically the growing outsourcing industry.

MORE postharvest facilities, better logistics, access to credit, market access and stepped-up research and development efforts are the major thrusts the government should immediately undertake to enable the country to keep pace with rising demand for food in the wake of a rapidly increasing population, according to Sen. Edgardo Angara.

Business confidence ebbed in the third quarter, sapped by strong competition from China, the shadow of diminished growth in the US and waning domestic production numbers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Friday.

DAVAO CITY—Will tuna, a highly moving species in the tropics, survive a caged life?

Sen. Edgardo Angara, a former Agriculture secretary, believes so, and the promise of its propagation in fish cages can become commercially viable with more mariculture parks.

EXPERTS urge the National Antipoverty Commission (NAPC) to take a more proactive stance in achieving broad-based economic growth in the country by becoming part of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) and the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

FILIPINO farmers and consumers would most likely accept genetically modified (GM) rice developed locally and which will be commercially available in 2011, according to a study conducted by the Philippine Rice Research Institute and Strive Foundation.