Dr. Marian Norbert Majer in Live Talk with Cathy Yap-Yang in the Philippine News Channel

published on September 6, 2019

On August 28, 2019, Dr. Marian Norbert Majer, Head of Rödl & Partner Philippines and Vice President of the German-Philippine Chamber of Industry and Commerce, talked to Cathy Yap-Yang, an internationally award-winning business journalist from the Philippines, in the business program "Market Edge" on ABS-CBN News Channel. During the interview, excerpts from the Rödl & Partner ASEAN Forum Singapore and the Kiangan Project of the Rödl Employee Fund for Children´s Aid in the Philippines were shown. Excerpts from the interview were also broadcast in the night magazine "Business Nightly" and thus reached a broad audience.

Under the headline "Outside Looking In", Dr. Majer commented in particular on the latest reports of a predicted recession in Germany and the possible effects on the investment behaviour of German companies in the Philippines. Among other things, he stated that a declining economic development in the home country could open up interesting opportunities for developing countries such as the Philippines. Given a rather saturated domestic market especially in the areas of services and consumer markets, German companies looking for diversification opportunities and strategic investments could now (increasingly) focus on Southeast Asia and the Philippines in particular. After all, the country scores with the second largest and steadily growing consumer market in ASEAN. In this context, Dr. Majer also highlighted the often underestimated competitiveness of the Philippines, which in many areas show good economic indicators, sometimes even outperforming many of its already successfully established Asian neighbors, such as Vietnam, Thailand or Indonesia.

In this context, however, Dr. Majer also expressly emphasized the importance of legal and planning security - especially referring to reliable tax incentives for German investors, which are currently on trial in the Philippines. The imminent corporate tax reforms - in particular the announced reduction of corporate income tax and the debate about new tax incentives - are not progressing fast enough, which would (still) cause potential investors to hesitate.

Addressing the Philippine audience, Dr. Majer promoted German companies and investors. They are particularly distinguished by their medium to long-term commitment and in many cases do not only bring the latest technologies and innovations, but also their entire corporate culture with them - including high occupational safety and environmental protection standards. In connection with the great economic potential of the Philippine market with its young, well-educated and largely fluent English-speaking population, interesting perspectives are opening up for German companies and the Philippines - for Asia's "next big thing".

See the full interview in the video below: