Islamic State threat cools outsourcing boom in PH

Prolonged fighting by Filipino militants supporting the Islamic State group has put the brakes on the Philippines’ $10 billion outsourcing industry, one of its key growth drivers, industry leaders said Wednesday.

More than 900 people have been killed in the city of Marawi, where pro-IS militants have defied a months-long US-backed military campaign to flush them out, while the southern third of the country has been placed under martial law to contain the violence.Although the lucrative outsourcing industry is largely based in the northern and central regions, the bloody conflict has unnerved many potential investors, said officials of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).