British Chamber looks forward to Duterte's RTLA bill signing

(As released) The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines Executive Director and Trustee Chris Nelson participated in the Philippine Economic Briefing for Foreign Chambers of Commerce, a recently concluded event hosted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Department of Finance.

During the event, Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez presented the Philippines’ GDP performance, comparing its pre-pandemic growth rates to the current growth rates. Secretary Lopez cited, the Philippines had a previous record of 6.6 percent average growth rate, the second fastest growing GDP in Asia. However, at the onset of the pandemic, GDP declined by 9.6 percent in 2020.

The Secretary then added that the country was able to garner an economic rebound of 4.9 percent in Q1 to Q3 of 2021 following the strengthened vaccination drive, continuous decline of COVID-19 cases, and gradually allowing people’s mobility. Lopez noted that this growth rate reflects the high probability of reaching the Philippines’ 2021 target growth rate of 5 to 5.5 percent.

In complement to the current encouraging growth rates, Nelson stressed the timely importance of amending the Retail Trade Liberalisation Act, Public Service Act, and the Foreign Investment Act. Noting the impact of the CREATE Act as well as the Anti-Red Tape Act, the passage of the amendments to the aforementioned bills will help increase the Philippines’ FDI inflows and further boost the country’s post-pandemic recovery.

Present on the panel discussion were Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo of Department of Trade and Industry, Secretary William Dar of Department of Agriculture, Secretary Arthur Tugade of Department of Transportation and Acting Secretary Roger Mercado of Department of Public Works and Highways.

Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency Azukizawa Eigo and Chairperson of Concentrix Marife Zamora also joined Chris Nelson as reactive panelists during the forum. — As released

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