28 March 2014 - In its latest economic publication, Panorama released on March 25, the Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur (COFACE) proclaimed that the Philippines, along with Peru, Indonesia, Colombia and Sri Lanka (PPICS) were the new emerging economies replacing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).

COFACE cited the Philippines as a country with high growth potential and having the most favorable prospect of increasing production capacity in the years to come. The Philippines is also considered to have the most favorable business climate. 

Following are the criteria used by COFACE in identifying the PPICS: 1) intermediate level of per capita income (above that of less advanced economies but below that of advanced economies); 2) higher GDP growth rate than most advanced economies; and 3) major institutional transformations.

This piece of economic good news comes at the heels of the report that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had raised its 2014 economic growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.5%, up from its January projection of 6.3%. Standard and Poor’s (S&P) also raised its growth projection for the Philippines to 6.6% for 2014.

The IMF and S&P are leading providers of global credit benchmarks, policy advice and research to foster economic development and growth around the world, while the COFACE is the French credit rating agency which publishes quarterly risk assessments for 160 countries.

A copy of the COFACE publication is available at: file:///C:/Users/PARIS%20PE/Downloads/Panorama+RP+Printemps2014-GB-RVB+vdef.pdf.

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