Singapore firms urged to invest in Philippines infra plan

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) encourages companies based in Singapore to invest in the Philippines, citing the economy’s resiliency amid the expected slowdown in global economic growth. 

During a meeting with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez painted a positive economic outlook for the Philippines, as he called on investors to consider participating in the government’s infrastructure modernization program and other sectors.  

“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.   

According to Dominguez, the government’s massive infrastructure program is expected to create more jobs and boost domestic consumption, thereby shielding the domestic economy from the global growth slowdown, the adverse effects of the ongoing US-China trade war and other risks.  

“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 businesses in the sense that it will lower your logistics costs in the Philippines,” 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, and we think that the Singaporean investors should take a close look at that,” he said. 

Led by its chairman Teo Siong Seng, the SBF met with Dominguez and other DOF officials to know more about the business climate in the country and explore investment opportunities.  The SBF represents 25,800 companies based in Singapore. 

During the meeting, the finance chief also informed the Singaporean delegation that the Philippines expects to become upper middle-income country next year, on the back of its stable macroeconomic fundamentals and reforms, such as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law. 

He said revenue inflows from the TRAIN Law has enabled the Philippines not only to support its  massive infrastructure program but also to increase spending on programs that aim to develop the country’s human capital.