MANILA – Uncertainties remain, especially with the threat of the Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), but economic recovery is clear, an official of an investment management and trust company said on Thursday.
During the virtual launch of Sun Life Investment Management and Trust Corporation (SLIMTC), its president, Michael Gerard Enriquez, said opportunities abound now amid the uncertainties in the market as the government has been doing a “good work” in ensuring that the economy should be poised to recover.
“I think there are more optimists now despite this Covid-19 Delta variant, which again creates some short-term uncertainty. Nevertheless, we expect the economy to start recovering,” he said.
Last year, the economy contracted by 9.5 percent because of the pandemic.
However, economic managers are positive for the revival of domestic output to between 6 percent to 7 percent this year given the continued reopening of the economy and the increase in government spending, especially on social protection programs and infrastructure.
These measures boost investors’ optimism, which make the launch of SLIMTC very timely, Enriquez said.
He said investors are now “assessing their portfolios and risk tolerance” after the pandemic hit last year.
“From 2020, last year, until probably now, we are more confident, and the sentiment has been turning more positive towards the recovery of the economy,” he added.
Meanwhile, Enriquez said SLIMTC was launched to fill the gap between the needs of individual investors and institutional investors, such as retirement funds.
“We envision SLIMTC to be more on offering solutions to clients rather than coming up with specific products and offering it to institutional clients,” he said.
He added they intend to know more about what their would-be-clients want, specifically to determine the strategies to implement.
Since SLIMTC is part of a multinational company, Enriquez said they would be able to offer not just domestic assets but also those being offered offshore.
“(These include) even derivatives solutions, which in fact we are in the process of applying further for its license to be able to showcase our derivatives capabilities, which we have been already doing in the insurance and the asset management business,” he said. (PNA)
