Citigroup bullish on Asia except RP

The Citigroup is bullish about wealth and economic growth prospects in the Asia Pacific region. Unfortuantely, the Philippines is not one of their options.

In a briefing held in Makati City yesterday, Ravi Raju, Citigroup investments managing director for the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, said the two regions are steadily outstripping the rest of the world in terms of growth, especially in the equities market.

"The faster opportunities and recoveries in the United States and the rest of the world is benefiting the two regions better than all the rest," Raju said. "Almost everything is in the upswing there."

He said most of the opportunities for investments are bright in the two regions as most of the economies are coming from a period of consolidation and relative protectionism.

Thus the accelerated global recovery coupled with high liquidity levels means huge equity gains particularly in the energy, healthcare, utilities, industries, telecommunications and financial markets.

Citibank said that business and consumer sentiments are in the upswing outside of the Japanese markets, while the manufacturing and inter-regional trading are gathering momentum.

"Employment growth is expected to pickup in most regions. We continue to favor Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong for their higher growth prospects in the near term."

Unfortunately, the Philippines is tagged as "under weight."

"Given its lingering political challenges and the lack of fundamental upside, the Philippines attracted no specific recommendations from us," Raju said. "We would go to other countries first where there are faster opportunities for us."

They admitted that the Philippine market remains "an untapped potential for private banking."

He said the only time they would start tapping the Philippine equities market is when the Thailand and Indonesian markets are overheating.

"We would like to make investments in an equities market that is in its lowest or weakest."

Out of every dollar invested in the equities market, slightly less than five percent finds its way to the Asia Pacific region. Citibank officials could not discern how much of that gets into the Philippines.

The Asia Pacific market remains "a magnet for investment flows, and with the Asian stocks still trading at better valuations than their global peers, we remain bullish on the prospects of Asian equities."