Biz groups seek continuity of policies for growth

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s largest business organization is seeking continuity of policies for economic growth to attract more investments with the looming Marcos presidency.

“Let’s give the incoming administration time to draw up and share their plans in making our country more progressive,” Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) president George Barcelon said in a statement yesterday.

Former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is poised to win the presidential elections after he garnered the most number of votes based on partial and preliminary results.

For PCCI, Barcelon said the election was generally peaceful and credible.

He said frontrunner Marcos would face the same financial challenges of the current administration due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical storm in Ukraine similar to other countries, as well as debt and inflation issues.

“There will be blips in rating and downward trend.

“But we know better our macroeconomic fundamentals are intact and the economic reforms of President Duterte’s administration. Kudos to Finance Secretary (Carlos) Sonny Dominguez who provided a sound take off point for the new administration,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) expressed its intention to continue to work with the government following the elections to ensure the country’s recovery.

“As business chambers, we hope to continue to work closely with government officials at all levels throughout the country for the recovery from the pandemic and to maintain high levels of GDP (gross domestic product) growth, infrastructure development, job creation, and FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows best achieved by continuing the governance and policies of the current and previous administrations,” the JFC said.

JFC is composed of the American, Australian-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese, Korean chambers and Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters Inc.

As for the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP), the group wants the incoming government leaders to continue the reforms made by the current administration.

“Clearly, what we want in the British Chamber of Commerce is for the  next administration to continue with some of those liberalization policies which were just passed very recently,” BCCP executive director Chris Nelson said in an interview with ANC.

Among the legislative reforms approved during the current administration that seek to encourage foreign investments into the country are the amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Foreign Investments Act, and Public Service Act.

Nelson said the BCCP also wants the next administration to continue investments, particularly on digital infrastructure and education to expand the local talent base.

“That will be very important going forward because what we want to see of course is UK companies and our investors coming in and creating more jobs,” he said.

The BCCP likewise wants the next administration to further streamline the approvals process of regulatory bodies for ease of doing business.