The investment missions abroad of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., assisted by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and other government officials, are starting to bear fruit, a congressional leader said on Sunday.
Proof of this, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr noted, is the recent assessment by HSBC Global Research that the investment environment in the country is “turning for the better.”
Gonzales, who represents Pampanga’s third district in the House of Representatives, added: “The President’s investment promotion missions, boosted by related measures approved by Congress and signed into law by the President, are beginning to yield positive results for the country and our people.”
He said foreign investors now see the Philippines as a potential profitable investment destination, “thanks to President BBM and our good Speaker Martin Romualdez.”
“The improved investment outlook of investors like the recent high-level American trade mission to Manila, and actual investments and pledges committed during the President’s investment trips augur well for the nation in the years ahead,” he added.
Gonzales noted that the US trade mission promised at least $1 billion in investments, while investment pledges received by President BBM amounted to several billions of dollars.
“These commitments, if realized, will sustain our economic growth and create new job and income opportunities for our people,” he stressed.
He pointed out that Romualdez and the House have been helping the President attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) by approving measures designed to enhance the investment climate in the country.
These measures include the recently enacted Ease of Doing Business Act and the law reducing the corporate income tax and offering other tax incentives, he said.
He said the investment environment would further improve with the approval by Congress and ratification by the people of proposed amendments to the Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.
“As the Speaker has repeatedly emphasized, these amendments would constitute the final piece in the puzzle of investment promotion measures that would boost the economy,” Gonzales said.
He renewed his appeal for the Senate to approve the amendment proposals as soon as Congress reconvenes later next month.
The Pampanga lawmaker, one of the principal authors of the House resolution containing the proposed economic Charter change, reiterated that the House and the Senate are not considering any political amendment.
He said the survey that included questions on political changes is misleading.
In a commentary, HSBC Global Research said, “If we look at FDI inflows relative to the size of the economy, the Philippines is, in fact, in the middle of the pack in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).”
“FDI inflows may not be as robust as say, Malaysia and Vietnam, but they are a sizable improvement from the sluggish inflows seen in the 1990s and the early 2000s. This, we believe, should be enough evidence to show that the country’s reputation [for] attracting FDI is, indeed, turning for the better,” it said.