The Board of Investments (BoI) is on track to hit its target of P1 trillion in approved investments for this year as investment pledges have exceeded P800 billion as of last month, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Tuesday.
During the launch of his agency’s “Make It Happen in the Philippines” international investments promotion campaign, Trade Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said the BoI was upbeat about meeting the target after investment pledges reached P826 billion in January to October.
“Though this will be slightly lower than the project approvals for 2019, we are still on course [on attaining] the second highest level [of greenlighted investments] in our agency’s history despite the pandemic,” he added.
Investment pledges reached P1.04 trillion in the first 10 months of 2019 and P1.14 trillion for the entire year.
Rodolfo said the government was pushing for a more proactive, targeted investment promotion strategy in asking foreign investors to relocate to the Philippines or expand their services and products.
According to him, the Make It Happen in the Philippines campaign, which the BoI initiated with the assistance of the United Kingdom government, would hopefully help attract more investments to the country.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the campaign’s tagline served as a promise that the Philippines “will build back better.”
“That is why we set out to implement ‘Rebuild,’ our initiative [that] stands for “Revitalizing Businesses, Investments, Livelihoods, and Domestic Demand,” Lopez said. “This is our economy recovery plan [amid] the pandemic and is anchored on a vision to create a modern, dynamic and responsible Philippines.”
“It is aimed at jumpstarting and reinvigorating the Philippine economy by revitalizing consumption and enhancing production capacity,” he explained.
According to the Trade chief, the two broad strategies of Rebuild are to revitalize demand and empower local industries to bolster demand in agriculture, industry and services.
“We are confident that the launch of the ‘Make it Happen in the Philippines’ campaign will relay a clear message across to the rest of the world that the Philippines is dynamic, agile and resilient,” Lopez said.