BBM’s Japan trip eyes P1.5-T investment target
The Board of Investments report said that in the first ten months of the year, foreign direct investment approvals reached P757.33 billion
DTI Undersecretary Maria Blanca Kim Bernardo-Lokin
Daily TribuneThe Board of Investments report said that in the first ten months of the year, foreign direct investment approvals reached P757.33 billion
DTI Undersecretary Maria Blanca Kim Bernardo-Lokin
The upcoming trip of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Japan for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit is expected to draw more foreign direct investments, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry said on Wednesday.
On DAILY TRIBUNE's digital show Straight Talk, DTI Undersecretary for Communications Maria Blanca Kim Bernardo-Lokin said she expects the FDIs would complete the P1.5-trillion approved investments set by Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual for the investment promotion agencies for this year.
Lokin said Pascual will join Marcos when he flies to Japan on 15 December.
"Let us hope that we hit the P1.5-trillion target for approved FDIs when Secretary Pascual and President Marcos meet with prospective Japanese investors. Since this is the President's second visit to Japan, I think the number one reason is to check on the status of the investment pledges, as they had them last time. But among the investment pledges on his last visit, quite a significant number have already materialized," she said.
Earlier, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu said Marcos would also meet with business leaders on the summit's sidelines, which marks the 50th year of ASEAN-Japan friendship and cooperation.
Lokin said there will be continuous bilateral talks apart from a roundtable meeting at the summit.
"I think more investment pledges are coming in, and there will be signings of investment agreements between the President and the business community in Japan. They are positive for that trip as a pretty good year-ender," she added.
To recall, Marcos' visit to Japan last February 2023 yielded 35 investment deals in the infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors.
As of October 2023, total approved investments recorded by the Board of Investments were at P1.07 trillion, which translates to an 86-percent growth from the same period last year's P576.21 billion.
The Board of Investments report said that in the first 10 months of the year, foreign direct investment approvals reached P757.33 billion, a significant leap of 567 percent from last year's P113.49 billion.
In addition, domestic investment stood at P316.22 billion.
As to the sources of the foreign direct investments, the BoI said the bulk came from Germany at P393.28 billion, followed by the Netherlands (P333.61 billion), Singapore (P17.07 billion), the United States (P2.63 billion), and France (P2.04 billion).
"Germany is investing in energy, particularly renewables, as the EU is big on renewables, and they are heavily into that. They also have manufacturing, and we notice that when you look at the FDIs, the EU market is still the biggest that came in," according to Lokin. "But I hope the US will once again emerge as we are now on friendlier terms."
On the domestic level, investments in Western Visayas topped the list at P307.25 billion, with CALABARZON taking up second place at P167.11 billion.
The Bicol Region (P162.92 billion), Eastern Visayas (P128.22 billion), and Ilocos Region (P122.18 billion) completed the top five regions.
EU FTA
Meanwhile, Lokin said the European Union is now more positive when it comes to realizing a free trade agreement, or FTA, with the Philippines compared to the previous years.
"This was after we had to deal with issues that were heavy on human rights and climate change. I think they were quite satisfied with our answer. Secretary Pascual promised that, maybe, this time around, we will look into that towards an FTA. I think the biggest validation that the EU will have an FTA with the Philippines, finally, was the visit of Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, in July 2023, the only country that she visited this year," she said.
"This time around, we are embarking on the scoping side for an FTA," she added.
The bilateral "scoping process" will assess to which extent the EU and the Philippines share a mutual understanding of a future FTA.
The Philippines has no FTA with the EU, only an EU Generalized Systems of Preference Plus or GSP+, a special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance in the form of zero duties.
The EU GSP+ is a unilateral trade arrangement that offers zero tariffs on 6,274 products, or 66 percent of all EU tariff lines.