MANILA: The Philippines may have been named the top investment destination for 2018, but the government must provide more impetus particularly for foreign investors and encourage them to pour capital into the country, an economist said.
Foreign companies, with their huge financial assets, could further contribute in the current administration’s efforts – especially on infrastructure – if only there was a more encouraging environment.
“We still have a lot of problems, the focus is for local companies but for foreign companies there are limited options,” Alvin P. Ang, who is also director of Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development, told Arab News. “We are moving along that line, but that cannot be achieved in a year’s time.”
The US News & World Report on Monday said that the Philippines was the best country to invest in for 2018, beating more developed economics such as Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and France.
The rankings were based primarily from 6,000 business decision makers scoring countries on eight equally weighted country attributes: entrepreneurship, economic stability, favorable tax environment, innovation, skilled labor, technological expertise, dynamism and corruption.
“In contrast to declining inflows of foreign direct investment, or FDI, to Southeast Asia as a whole, the Philippines continued to perform well, according to United Nations data. In years to come, the country is expected to receive more FDI from within the region from powerhouses like China that are looking to utilize labor in developing nations,” US News & World Report said.
And one of the investment areas where the Philippines needs foreign capital is infrastructure, Ang said. “We need extra money [on infrastructure], as local companies have maxed out.”
President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration last year announced a multibillion-dollar “Build, Build, Build” initiative promising to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure” in the next five years.
Investors troop to year’s first RTB issue; P134 billion awarded
THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has awarded an initial P134 billion worth of three-year retail treasury bonds (RTBs), which...