Last 11.11, more than 200 executives and leaders gathered for MPower’s 8
th Executive Forum to gain cognizance of the business environment outlook for the coming year. The Executive Forum serves as an active space to incite relevant discourse amongst industry and thought leaders alike as inputs for their business planning. Led by distinguished subject matter experts within their respective fields, Dr. Bernardo Villegas (economics), Guillaume Perret (energy), and Dr. Guido David (pandemic) spearheaded the discussions and insighting activities, together with host and moderator, Danie Laurel.
AVP and MPower Retail Sales Head, Mr. Eddie John Adug, welcomed attendees with a recap of the pivotal events that transpired in 2022 and how these have affected not only businesses, but also everyone’s day to day lives. He expressed his hopes that the forum’s line-up of speakers will be able to shed light on what’s to come in 2023.
Dr. Bernardo Villegas, one of the most sought after and esteemed Philippine economists, gave an optimistic yet cautious outlook on the Philippine Economy. Showing international data on global economic forecasts, he mentioned that the Philippines is poised to be one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, with CAR, Central Luzon, CALABARZON and CARAGA to be the main areas of productivity. He stated that despite the oncoming global recession, the nation is expected to remain resilient due to the strengthening of service exports and government initiatives to drive foreign investments.
An industry expert on coal and energy, Guillaume Perret, led a much-needed discussion on the outlook of coal and energy prices for 2023. He explained how the rebalancing of the supply and demand in the coal market has been delayed, primarily due to ongoing geopolitical conflicts that affected global coal exports and inventories. With renewable energy not hitting full efficiency and La Niña affecting coal mining conditions, the high demand but low output scenario may still result to higher coal prices moving forward.
OCTA Research Fellow, Dr. Guido David, shared the latest forecasts on the COVID-19 pandemic, including lower projections of COVID-19 case numbers come Christmas season. With levels of infection remaining at manageable levels, Dr. Guido cautioned that the next waves will depend on the emergence of new COVID-19 variants. He also lauded Filipinos’ general habit of still wearing masks despite the relaxing of policies, as this will mitigate upticks in future cases.
Culminating the event was Senior Vice President and Head of MPower, Roberto Almazora, as he highlighted MPower’s sustainability initiatives, consisting of recent turnovers of Php 700K+ worth of donations to 7 beneficiary schools, and planting our 9,000
th seedling in Siniloan, Laguna thru CommuniTrees. He also proudly shared MPower’s newest partnership with Radius for 100% pure fiber connectivity and partners can enjoy exclusive discounts on various Radius offerings.
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