‘Infra buildup pushes Phl forward’

We are confident that the economic stimulus provided by our infrastructure program will continue to create new jobs and be very beneficial for business

The economic stimulus generated by the ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program of the Duterte administration will provide investment opportunities and job creation that will insulate the Philippines from the global economic slowdown.

This was stressed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III as he urged Singaporean investors to consider investing in the Philippines and its strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

“The Philippine economy continues to demonstrate strength, stability and resilience in adverse conditions. We hope to sustain our growth, relying on strong domestic demand to offset the general slowdown,” Dominguez said.

“Private sector participation is not only in our country’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program, but also in investments that would open up as a result of our infrastructure modernization. We think the Singaporean investor should take a close look at that,” he added.

This builds on after Dominguez painted a picture with a positive economic outlook for the Philippines before the visiting delegation from the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).

He assured the SBF the Philippines is on track to achieving upper-middle income status by next year given the country’s robust macroeconomic fundamentals and game changing reforms such as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.

“I think we have proven that we can chew gum and walk across the room at the same time. We can do reforms and we can deliver in the field. We have done significant reforms in taxation and we are moving forward with that,” Dominguez said.

“Even as the global economic outlook deteriorates further, we are confident that the economic stimulus provided by our infrastructure program will continue to create new jobs and be very beneficial for business in the sense that it will lower your logistics costs in the Philippines,” he added.

The Singaporean delegation was led by SBF chairman Teo Siong Seng, who met with Dominguez to discuss the local business climate and explore investment opportunities.

The SBF represents 25,800 companies based in Singapore.

In the recent past, local output growth measured as the gross domestic product consistently grew by at least 6 percent, before slowing to 5.5 percent in the second quarter due to the delayed approval of this year’s spending plan or budget.