PH economic team showcases incentives, opportunities for Emirati investors in PEB Dubai
The economic team of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. showcased various incentives and opportunities for Emirati investors during the Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) in Dubai on September 12, 2023.
During the panel discussion on the Philippine economic outlook and investment
opportunities, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F.
Pangandaman discussed the digital transformation agenda of the Philippines
which will not only improve public service delivery but also reduce the cost of
doing business in the country.
“In our budget priority, we make sure that the national agencies put on top
their digital transformation programs,” the budget chief said.
National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan also
noted that the Philippines has been aggressively reforming its investment and
trade regimes to open up the economy and support a sound foreign investment
climate.
“We would like to see those FDIs (Foreign Direct Investments) in sectors that
will generate high-quality jobs,” Secretary Balisacan added. He mentioned that
these sectors include agri-business, responsible mining, renewable energy,
manufacturing, creatives, and services.
Meanwhile, Department of Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno highlighted that
physical and digital connectivity, as well as investments in clean energy, are
necessary for the Philippines as an archipelagic country: “A growing economy
needs a lot of energy.”
Under the Clean Energy Scenario of the Philippine Energy Plan 2020 to 2040, the
total investment requirement in the country’s renewable energy power projects
is about Php 5.8 trillion or USD 103.6 billion to achieve fifty percent
renewable energy share in its power generation mix by 2040.
In addition, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), as cited by BSP Deputy
Governor Francisco G. Dakila Jr., is pursuing a digital payments transformation
roadmap—targeting at least fifty percent of the total volume of retail payments
transactions done digitally by the end of this year and at least seventy
percent of Filipino adults onboarded to the formal financial system. On the
other hand, BSP Assistant Secretary Arifa A. Ala underscored the potential of
Islamic banking and expressed her optimism to see investors from the United
Arab Emirates in the future.
The panel was moderated by the DBM Undersecretary Margaux Salcedo and HSBC Head
of Communications in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey Nick Edwards.
(DBM/PIA-Caraga)
