[LINK] "New Zealand: should the Philippines become a major partner?"

[rfmcdonald]

Such is the contention of contention of Blue Jacket 1862. There's room for synergy between the two southwest Pacific English language-using island nations, the author argues.

Why particularly The Philippines though? Apart from the fact that already the country is New Zealand's third largest market for dairy products, it's also a key destination for beef and forrestry exports. Also, there are numerous other areas for advancement, all detailed on NZTE's site. One thing which struck me was the scope for the IT industry.

As NZTE puts it, "mobile/wireless, transport and logistics, health IT, security and defence and the business process outsourcing market" are immediate opportunities for New Zealand's rapidly growing ICT industry.

NZICT, the industry body for the ICT and Hi-Tech sectors, foresaw recently that this industry - already worth US$3.74bn - could grow to match the primary sectors soon to within ten years becoming New Zealand's biggest export earner. Digital content development and software development are both sub-sectors which will grow rapidly over this upcoming decade. Denmark has recently undergone a similar economic transformation, which New Zealand hopes to copy, I understand.

The Philippines weathered the recession better than many neighbours due to strong domestic demand, all those remittances from abroad, and less dependance than some competitors on exports to sustain growth.

Although small at present, the Philippines economy is set to grow fast. It grew by another 7% in 2010, according to the World Factbook and now ranks at No.34 in the world in terms of its total GDP (PPP). That places the country, with 92m people, just above Venezuela (pop. 29m) and Austria (pop. 8m). Yet, Goldman Sachs, an investment Bank, predicts the Philippine economy will rise to world No.17 by 2050, putting it ahead of Italy, Iran and Egypt.

And another thought, as global consolidation in the bourse (share market) sector gathers pace, would an early pre-emptive tie-up between the Wellington-based NZX and the Pasig, Manila-based Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) make strategic and economic sense?

Looking into a merger of stock exchanges could be a good idea, he suggests.

Go, read.