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Contact center sector may be threatened by US crisis


MANILA, Philippines - The US financial crisis will have a detrimental effect on the Philippines’ thriving Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, one of the economy’s leading drivers. “The main source of domestic job placements are BPO outfits such as call centers whose clients are in the US," Speaker Prospero C. Nograles said. “We may not feel the effects right away but…these key industries… are directly linked with the crisis in the US." The BPO sector only gained ground in the Philippines in the early part of the new millennium, although outsourcing in other parts of the globe began as early as the 1990s. From a mere P2 billion in 2000, investment in the Philippines’ contact center industry surged to P11 billion in 2001, then settled to P5 to 7 billion annually in the next four years. From 112,000 employees in 2005, the BPA/P (Business Process Association, Philippines) targeted a direct employment close to 1 million by the end of 2010. “As the growth of the US economy will definitely stagnate because of the adverse ramifications of the financial market turbulence, the Philippines will be affected through a slowdown in exports. While the hare of the country's exports to the US has been declining, it continues to be the number one export market," he added. Nograles urged President Arroyo to immediately call for an economic summit, or an expanded Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting as soon as possible in view of the US economic meltdown which, Nograles said, will inevitably cause rippling effects on the Philippine economy. - D’Jay Lazaro, GMANews.TV
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