The Philippines targets to overtake its neighbors in attracting foreign direct investments (FDI) midway into the Marcos administration, according to Board of Investments managing head Ceferino Rodolfo
Rodolfo said the target is for the Philippines to be the second largest FDI recipient at the end of this administration.
Rodolfo told the National Exporters Congress yesterday the fighting target was presented by Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual to President Marcos in a briefing in October.
“We would like to overtake Vietnam in attracting FDIs by 2024; and Indonesia by 2026, or 2027,” Rodolfo said, adding there are six measures to be pursued to achieve these targets.
One is the issuance of an executive order (EO) creating a green lane for projects of national significance. Under the EO, strategic projects will be allowed to simultaneously apply for permits and licenses.
According to Rodolfo, the Philippines six years ago was number six among all of the Asean countries in terms of net FDIs.
“But we ended 2021 being number four so we were able to overtake Malaysia and Thailand,” Rodolfo said.
“For last year, despite everything that was said, how we have lost, we actually did very well in terms of net FDIs as it was a record breaking year for us. We did $12.4 billion, the highest on record. So we bested what we were able to achieve in 2017 which was about $10.5 billion. So please don’t give up on the Philippines because we are getting there,” Rodolfo said.
Singapore is the biggest recipient of FDIs in Asean, doing $80 billion to $100 billion per year followed by Indonesia, $20 billion and; Vietnam, $15 billion. – Irma Isip
