THE International Data Corp. (IDC), a global research company, cautions against a “myopic leadership” replacing the current Aquino administration as negatively affecting the country’s information and communications technology (ICT) growth track.
IDC has seen the Philippines returning to its growth path in 2013, after the government “put a stop on most government projects” in 2010, the first year of Benigno Aquino III’s presidency.
After a similar 5-percent to 9-percent growth in the following two years, 2013 saw a 27-percent growth, “on the back of government-led projects, fiscal reforms and anticorruption measures that led to improvements in the country’s international ratings and rankings,” IDC said.
This year IDC sees the total ICT spending growth in the country hovering between 8 percent and 10 percent, Jubert Alberto, IDC Philippines country head, was quoted in a May 2 statement as saying. “Barring any major wild-card events, such as natural disasters, a worldwide recession, or a political revolution, IDC believes the country’s ICT sector is headed toward a positive outlook at the end of 2016 and beyond.”
However, IDC cautions “such an ICT growth path may be dwarfed by shortsighted and drastic strategies that look only at the immediate six months to eight months after the elections.”
“Ill-planned strategies can make the economy even more vulnerable to external shocks, and ‘rocking the boat’ too much with radical policies and questionable methods may result to instability and hurt domestic viability and investor confidence,” the ICT research firm said.
And with the presidential election happening on Monday, “the country’s ICT growth once again hangs in the balance.” IDC said election years in the Philippines “have traditionally been both a boon and a bane for the country’s ICT sector.”
“While there is an election ban for major projects, there are great opportunities for ICT vendors and service providers due to election-related projects and various spending measures,” IDC said. “However, elections also drive end-users, particularly the enterprise sector, to a wait-and-see attitude toward spending, and some are forced to downgrade or altogether scrap any major ICT-related expenditure due to uncertainty.”
Alberto remains optimistic on the ICT sector, despite what he calls “short-term uncertainties.”
“The country’s momentum toward ICT adoption is well on its upward track, brought on by the rise of millennials, disruptive technologies, the impact of the business-process outsourcing industry, demands from small- and medium-sized enterprises and the impact of next-wave cities,” he said.