MANILA, (PNA) — Filipinos have the habit of shopping and spending rather than saving money that makes retail business in the Philippines a brighter prospect for investment.
PTT Philippines Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Wisarn Chawalitanon made this remarks as he encouraged investors to consider investing in the Philippines, particularly on retail business.
“Filipinos’ shopping and spending habits are obviously driven by the Philippines’ economic growth,” Chawalitanon said. “And this is the best time for investors to come in and invest especially on retail business,” he told expatriates and businessmen at the recent Business Forum and Networking hosted by Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), Ministry of Commerce in celebration of the Thailand Week in Manila.
A study made by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) also showed that one of four Filipino households, indeed, has savings.
Results of the BSP study conducted early this year indicated that only 24.5 percent of the respondent households reported to have savings and two of three of those have bank accounts.
“Middle income level is into consumer good spending and there’s a lot of impulse buying that makes the Philippine retail as a growing market,” Chawalitanon noted. “Retail business in the Philippines is really booming.”
He said that over one-fourth of retail business establishments in the Philippines are located in Metro Manila.
PTT Philippines Corp., the local subsidiary of Thailand’s biggest oil firm — the PTT Public Company Limited — in recent years has expanded its operations into retail business after starting out its operations with commercial trading of fuels.
To date, PTT has 65 service stations nationwide and more are scheduled to open by end of the year.