The government’s economic team is wooing more American investors to consider the Philippines as a destination of choice for business expansion.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, together with other members of the economic team, made the case to potential investors during the Philippine Investors Dialogue at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on April 17.
Balisacan said that despite various external risks, including the global economic slowdown, geopolitical tensions and election-related uncertainty in major economies, the Philippine government is actively seeking out investment and trade opportunities as it implements projects crucial to the country’s socioeconomic transformation.
“We have undertaken several transformative initiatives to substantially improve the investment climate. These reforms and initiatives clarify ambiguities in the rules, expand markets for our local industries, streamline government processes and promote more competition,” Balisacan said.
“Through the President’s policy issuances, we have underscored the government’s strong commitment to promote the ease of doing business,” he said.
The government is expecting a significant boost to growth and job creation from the accelerated rollout of the ‘Build-Better-More’ infrastructure flagship projects, valued at about $161.7 billion or P9.14 trillion, and the government’s flagship housing program which aims for the construction of about 3.3 million housing units by 2028.
“We have laid the groundwork for major projects and programs. We expect to see more of these projects becoming operational this year onwards, improving connectivity and supporting growth and resilience,” he said.
Balisacan said with the increasing share of the working-age population, investors can expect demand to rise over the next few decades.
He assured them that the government is working on the fundamentals of education, health and social protection systems so that the economy may benefit from this demographic dividend.
“All of these initiatives will support and spur our numerous growth drivers—in construction and infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, retail and tourism, education and health, IT, and creatives—as we go through this exciting stage in our nation’s development,” he said.