THERE is no quick fix to our battered economy as we reopen it. The road to the new normal and economic recovery will be long and slow but sure, as it is with the rest of the world.
We can already see how the economy would fare in the second quarter of 2020. And we don’t have to wait for the official data on the gross domestic product to validate this observation. But we should be optimistic and focus on recovery in the new normal of doing business.
I am sure conglomerates as well as the small and medium-scale industries will adapt to the changing business environment forced upon them by COVID-19. For starters, they will impose rigid screening on employees and strict health protocols to keep the virus at bay.
Most companies will likely revisit and refocus their operations given the new normal that will prevail in the reopening of the economy. Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., part of the Villar Group of Companies that I head, for instance, will refocus on optimizing its current portfolio of investment properties. It will take advantage of its geographic reach in 147 cities and municipalities across the country and aims to generate over 50 percent of the company’s revenue outside Metro Manila.
Vista Land will also focus on developing integrated urban projects combining lifestyle retail, prime office space, university town, health care, themed residential developments and leisure components.
The real-estate sector is partly dependent on remittances from our overseas Filipino workers. Luckily, our end-users, as Vista Land President and Chief Executive Manuel Paolo Villar observed, remain committed to completing payments even as demand for affordable housing persisted.
The remittances that fuel housing and the general economy are not about to falter despite the lower amount of money sent by our workers abroad. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno has expressed optimism that remittances will recover from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BSP’s concern on how the Covid-19 pandemic will impact on future remittances flows is understandable given their strong contribution to consumption expenditure. The Bangko Sentral just trimmed its growth forecast for remittances this year to two percent, slower than its previous forecast of three percent, taking into account the impact of the pandemic on the employment of overseas Filipino workers.
“However, it is important to point out that crisis or no crisis, Filipinos abroad continue to send remittances to their families at home. It would appear that OFW remittances have an altruistic character. Furthermore, the adverse impact of Covid-19 on remittances may be temporary,” said Diokno. (To be continued)
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This piece first came out in Business Mirror on June 2, 2020 under the column “The Entrepreneur.” For comments/feedback e-mail to: mbv.secretariat@gmail.com or visitwww.mannyvillar.com.ph./PN
