Banco de Oro, the country’s largest by assets and whose profits are seen well past P57 billion this year, holds a sanguine view of the economy next year and for business in general but refuses to be too optimistic.
Teresita Sy Coson, BDO chairperson, late on Wednesday said the Philippines should do well as a country next year even though it faces a number of challenges.
“Left to ourselves, we are going to do well. But there is geopolitical tension, and climate change uncertainties,” Sy-Coson told financial reporters.
By the remark, she meant events unfolding in the West Philippine Sea and the conflicting claims over territory disputed by the Philippines on one hand and China on the other.
The unsettled claims notwithstanding, the country’s most influential business leader bared an assessment in which the Philippines should prove alright this year and next in its continued relations with China.
“China is very close to us (Filipinos) so we cannot be too antagonistic. Even though we know what is happening, I guess we have to be mindful, to go through it through a peaceful negotiation,” Sy-Coson said.
According to her, reporting every single incident at the West Philippine Sea is not helping the Philippines any because when the reports hit Chinese authorities, “China takes it very seriously.”
She acknowledged that while sovereignty issues do not have to be taken lightly, she presented the case for “knowing who our neighbor is and how to work peacefully together.”
“What we’ll have to do is to have peaceful discussions with them because after all we cannot change our neighbors,” Sy-Coson said.
Against this backdrop, Sy-Coson painted a cautiously optimistic outlook on business and the economy next year.
“Left to its own, the Philippine economy is ok,” she reiterated.
Nesto Tan, BDO president and CEO, shared Sy-Coson’s cautiously optimistic outlook, noting the number of economic and non-economic variables that impact on lender performance.
He noted, for instance, that consumer loan growth at BDO has stayed at the mid-single digit level at the last audit: “The last one in October was only 7 percent so its outlook is not as rosy as it was before although at least it is stable.”
As for the bank’s soured or non-performing loans (NPL), Tan noted this has inched up a bit but pointed out this was expected coming off the pandemic period in recent past.
“So far, I think for the bank, 2023 was a decent year, a good year but again we are cautious of our outlook for 2024,” he said.
BDO earlier reported nine-month profits rising 35 percent to P53.9 billion, on track to projected income beyond P57 billion the lender posted last year.
