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For three days last week, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center Taipei sponsored a business forum which was held at the Howard Plaza in the city’s Da-an district.
Flying in from the Philippines were Chairperson and Administrator Wilma Eisma of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Vice-President Evangeline Tejada of Clark Development Corporation, Linda Pamintuan, Executive Director of Subic and Clark Alliance for Development, Jonathan Defensor de Luzuriaga, President of the Philippine Software Industry Association, executives of the Cagayan Export Zone Authority as well as a representative of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority to present their selling points as investment destinations to Taiwanese businessmen. Also invited as a major resource person to give Taiwan businessmen an overview of the Philippine economy was Jonathan Ravelas, first vice-president and chief market strategist of BDO Unibank Inc., which has been actively helping us in sponsoring such investment promotion activities. Some 300 businessmen packed the ballroom of the Howard Plaza to listen to our major economic zones present their advantages as an investment destination.  Inanc Balci, co-founder and CEO of Lazada Philippines, is of mixed race. But he identified himself as Turkish, being born and raised in Istanbul.
When the opportunity came to establish an e-commerce platform, the US-educated Balci never hesitated to choose the Philippines as the launchpad in 2012. Balci saw the opportunities for the social media savvy Filipinos. Those opportunities have turned into realities and opening doors to more entrepreneurs. Balci has steered Lazada, and the whole Philippine e-commerce industry to new heights, where now over 10,000 sellers cater to over a million monthly transactions.  MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has identified 137 sites covering a total area of 70,475 hectares as potential new economic zones.
PEZA, since the entry of director general Charito Plaza, has made public its intent to transform idle and unproductive public lands into special economic zones that are seen to drive economic development in communities. Based on a report from PEZA, majority or 74 sites are best suited as manufacturing zones. About 30 sites spanning 10,668 hectares are eyed as agro-industrial ecozones, while another 19 covering 19,815 hectares are for tourism. The remaining are seen ideal for the development of IT parks and centers and other forms of ecozones.  CLARK FREEPORT ZONE— The Duterte administration is set to make Clark Freeport Zone “the next big metropolis” with several flagship infrastructure projects seen bolstering economic activity in the former US military air base.
“Clark will soon be the showcase of the Duterte administration’s economic strategy. We expect this area to be the growth driver for central and northern Luzon,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told a press conference during the roadshow here for the Philippines’ hosting of the 51st Asian Development Bank annual meeting on May 3 to 6. Dominguez said Clark was ideal to be the center for agro-industrial activities as well as a hub for cutting-edge technology companies and world-class sports facilities. “With the recent groundbreaking of the 40-hectare piece of land where the National Government Administrative Center will be developed, the New Clark City will house various backup government centers that will ensure continuous business operations and services in the country at the onset of a natural disaster,” Dominguez said.  MANILA, Philippines — Government spending on infrastructure rose 25 percent to P43.3 billion in January from P34.5 billion in the same period last year due to the completion of school and road projects, as well as the military modernization program, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reported yesterday.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno attributed the expansion to the completion of projects by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), such as school buildings, flood control projects, and lahar control works. The increase was also driven by the purchase of communication equipment as part of the Department of National Defense- Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program, according to Diokno.  The Philippines is experiencing a “golden age of economic growth” amid sustained expansion in more than five decades, an executive of the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday, with the Duterte administration’s ambitious infrastructure program seen not only boosting the gross domestic product (GDP) but also reducing poverty incidence.
In its Asian Development Outlook 2018 report released also yesterday, the Manila-based multilateral lender kept its 6.8-percent GDP growth forecast for the Philippines for 2018, a faster pace than the 6.7-percent actual expansion in 2017. For 2019, the ADB projected the Philippine economy to further grow by 6.9 percent, although the forecasts in the next two years were below the government’s target range of 7-8 percent starting this year until 2022. “Rising domestic demand, remittances and employment, in addition to infrastructure spending, will drive growth” in the Philippines in the near term, the ADB said in a statement.  MANILA, Philippines — The pipeline for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects for local government units (LGUs) has expanded to seven, with an aggregate value of at least P34.34 billion, as more provincial governments and private proponents join in the fray, the PPP Center said.
The following projects are now on the table: the Baggao Water Supply Project worth P84.22 million, the Cagayan de Oro Septage Management Project worth P128 million, the Quezon City Waste-to-Energy-Project worth P 16.56 billion, Pampanga Bulk Water Supply Project costing P 16.7 billion, the Los Baños Public Market Project amounting to P110 million, and the Cebu City Solid Waste Management Project and the General Santos Public Market Project, the costs for which have yet to be determined. The PPP Center said LGUs are “keenly looking into” PPP projects to provide vital infrastructure and services for residents and to boost their competitiveness.  MANILA, Philippines — Foreign direct investments to the Philippines posted strong growth during the first month of the year, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Tuesday show.
FDIs surged to $919 million in January, 56.7 percent higher than the $587 million level chalked up in the same month last year. In a statement, the central bank said the January net inflow—which means more investments entered than left—was due to positive investor outlook on the country’s economic performance “on the back of strong macroeconomic fundamentals.” Job-generating FDIs are a key source of capital for the country’s economy as it provides opportunities for business expansion. Officials want to attract more FDIs, not only keep existing ones, as they tend to stay longer than other capital inflows and create jobs  Taipei, April 3 (CNA) The Philippines has become the top destination for Taiwanese banks planning to extend their reach in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market, according to a research paper released Tuesday by the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF).
In the research paper, the TABF, a research group under the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), said the Philippines, bolstered by its fast-growing economy, has replaced Vietnam for the first time to become the top destination in the ASEAN bloc for local banks seeking to set up branches or representative offices. |
ABOUT PTIC TAIPEI
The Philippine Trade & Investment Center in Taipei is the Commercial Affairs Section of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office and the representative office of the Philippine Department of Trade & Industry in Taiwan Archives
February 2019
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