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MANILA - The Philippines can tap manufacturing for future growth in the economy, an analyst said Wednesday, after government officials flagged a potential plateau in the outsourcing industry.

There is a "a lot of growth potential" in food processing and food-related technology in the manufacturing space that has yet to be tapped, said Anwita Basu from the The Economist Intelligence Unit.

"This is something that most BPO sectors are facing across the globe is the rising competition, competition from machines and automation, from other countries as well," Basu told ANC's Early Edition.

"Its also the nature of the nature of skill set required in the BPO sector is now changing, obviously countries which do rely on this sector needs to kind of reform, re-skill very quickly," she said.

Socioeconomic Planning Sec. Ernesto Pernia said Tuesday the BPO industry was maturing and ripe for a skills upgrade.

• Read: BPO ripe for skills upgrade as growth nears 'plateau,' gov't says