The government has assumed a lower investment target of P1 trillion in 2025 based on the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The value is lower than the P1.15 trillion projected this year and the P1.26 trillion actual investments in 2023.
The NEP target for exports meanwhile is an increase to a range of $113 billion to $163.6 billion in 2025 from the $102.7 billion target for 2024.
In 2023, actual exports amounted to $103 billion.
A presentation at the House appropriations committee yesterday showed the DTI budget is seen at P10.6 billion for 2025 slightly higher than the P10.32-billion General Appropriations Act (GAA) in 2024.
Of that amount, P8.3 billion is for the Office of the Secretary (OSEC) and its attached agencies and the rest for its attached corporations.
GAA for OSEC and its attached agencies in 2024 is slightly higher at P8.64 billion.
At the hearing, DTI undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said incentives, power and ease of doing business remain a constraint to growth and competitiveness.
“Investors bring up ease of doing business as a concern. Our response to that is the Green Lane for strategic investments first,” Rodolfo said, as he expressed hope this would be available to all projects. Projects in Green Lane enjoy fasttrack processing of requirements.
He said the shift to renewable energy would be a game changer, especially if the country wants to increase capacity and bring down the cost of power, another constraint mentioned by investors.
Rodolfo tagged as both a constraint and an opportunity talent development which is being addressed through upskilling and reskilling by government and private sector.
The last constraint is incentives.
Rodolfo, who is managing head of incentive-granting body, the Board of Investments, cited the attractiveness of Vietnam which in March issued a directive giving free lease of land and reimbursement for the cost of clearing operations of their strategic projects.
Rodolfo identified the following as opportunities for export growth:mineral processing, semiconductor and electronics, information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) and health and sustainably-produced food as opportunities for export growth.
Rodolfo said mining/mineral processing has a potential to grow its share in the country’s GDP to 2 to 3 percent from the current 1 percent as the government pursues investments in green metals for the processing of copper, nickel, iron, chromite, cobalt and other minerals which the country has a lot of.
For semiconductors and electronics which account for bulk of Philippine exports, Rodolfo said the Philippines is getting a lot of interest from investors who are trying to secure their supply chains.
He said IT-BPM remains a good sector, seen hitting revenues of $40 billion in terms of exports.
