Friday, February 1, 2008
The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) is investing heavily on retirement villages to double the number of foreign retiries it attracted last year.
Speaking before reporters during yesterday’s press conference, PRA chairman Retired General Edgardo Aglipay said they would like to invite 6,000 foreign retirees this year. In 2007, retirees residing in the country numbered 2,620.
“We want to attract at least 3,500 but our target is 6,000 or more,” Aglipay said.
The enrolment of 2,620 principal retirees and dependents is expected to generate 10,480 jobs based on a conservative estimate of four workers per principal retiree.
Koreans make up 60 percent of the retirees followed by the Chinese and the Americans.
In terms of income, Aglipay said they would like to increase their P90.17 million income by 25 percent this year. PRA’s gross income for the year amounted to P264.94 million.
Since its inception in 1984, PRA has contributed a total of P 519.6 million to the National Treasury of which, P231.7 million was income tax and P287.9 million in dividends.
According to Aglipay, the graying populations of the world will soon overtake generations X and Y. He said studies showed that by the year 2015, there will be 425.6 million retirees in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Europe and the US.
In order to tap into this huge market, Aglipay said PRA will implement a highly-targeted niche using a nine-point integrated business model that includes housing, healthcare, lifestyle services, transportation, management, human resources, safety and security, insurance and finance.
[ Published by : Philstar.com ] February 1, 2008
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