The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC) recently announced its projection for the next decade. Key among these projections include generating $50 billion in Foreign Direct Investment and adding 3 million more jobs to the labor market.
The sector generated $8.3 billion in the period between 2015 and 2019. This new projection represents a 300% increase in the whole FDI generated through this five-year period.
The JFC says it understands that the foreign investors in the Philippines are not immune to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It had made it known, however, that the projection is relying on the enormous growth potential of the Business Processes Outsourcing (BPO) sector to spearhead this post-COVID economic recovery.
The Philippines government continues to show its commitment to luring foreign investors into the country. Just recently, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched the “Make It Happen in the Philippines” campaign.
That campaign is saddled with the task of getting foreign investors to see and take advantage of economic opportunities in the country’s aerospace, automotive, copper, information technology and business process management (IT-BPM), and electronics sectors.
In the same vein, the DTI said it would be reassessing its 2018 - 2022 export targets, with regards to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has also launched the “Global Biz with Peza.”
“Global Biz with Peza” is organized as a monthly global investors forum. The forum will provide a platform for businesspeople, ecozone developers and operators, and national agencies to discuss business and investment. The Senate also recently approved the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) bill. While lauding the bill the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) said that while it is indeed a step in the right direction, the country still needs to do more to attract significant FDI from global investors.
The unemployment rate seems to have improved slightly, thanks to the government’s gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions to open the country for business. This rate currently stands at 8.7%, significantly lower than April’s record-high 17.6% unemployment rate.
However, the country’s inflation rate still increased by 3.3% in November.
This figure is a 20-month record-high despite the positive indicators. Commenting on this, the governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had said “while this is outside our goal of 2.4% to 3.2%, it is a temporary uptick that would not affect the government’s target.”
In other news, the World Bank COVID-19 Economic Recovery Program had chosen Bacolod City alongside four other cities to kickstart their technical assistance project. While the program was launched to help cities become more competitive, Bacolod City will be focusing on fostering the program’s key economic development drivers. These include education, housing and property development, and information technology-BPO.
In other news, a criminal call center in India has been busted by authorities. Agents of the call center were alleged to be calling US citizens, posing as agents from the Social Security Number (SSN) department. Unsuspecting citizens were duped hundreds of dollars as the criminals offered various SSN verification services ranging between $100 to $500.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has admonished people and businesses to ensure they comply with government guidance and directions to curtail the coronavirus.
This is coming on the back of the news that 25 employees of a Subic-based outsourcing company had contracted coronavirus after attending gatherings at Olongapo City and Zambales province. Government restrictions have been eased to allow businesses to organize trainings, trade shows, meetings, and more albeit at 30-percent capacity of the hosting venue.
The head of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA)’s public health and safety department implored the public to not lose guard even as we approach the festive season since the pandemic is still far from over.
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