The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is bullish that the local capital market will continue to grow next year despite market uncertainties.

In an interview with reporters on Thursday, PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon said he expects the country’s capital market rising to hit P120 billion, projecting about a 50 percent jump from P79 billion this year.

“Our market is going up but when Trump was elected, it went down. I looked at the total capital raising this year and we reached P79 billion. Next year, I think we can do about P120 billion,” Monzon said.

Market’s resilience

Monzon said he is confident in the PSE’s ability to achieve its target, banking on the resilience of the Philippine capital market and its capacity to adapt to evolving economic conditions.

The projected growth includes funds from follow-on offerings, stock rights offerings and private placements.

With the projected increase, he believes the market is well-positioned to attract more investors and support corporate financing needs.

Monzon noted that while the market had only three initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2023 — mostly small-scale offerings—larger follow-on offerings for preferred shares significantly boosted the year’s capital-raising performance.

Focus on total capital raised

The PSE chief underscored the importance of focusing on the total capital raised rather than solely on IPOs, emphasizing the diversity of mechanisms that can drive market growth.

For the first nine months of the year, PSE reported an 11.2 percent increase in net income to P640.25 million, up from P575.65 million during the same period last year.

The growth was primarily attributed to a 90.8 percent increase in other income, which reached P326.17 million.

The surge was driven by higher fair value estimates of the company’s investments in equity funds and dollar-denominated bonds.