The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines Executive Director and Trustee Chris Nelson continued their call to pass the three key economic reforms in an interview on ANC’s Market Edge on September 13.
During the interview, Nelson mentioned that opening up the economy through the passage of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Public Services Act and the Foreign Investments Act will prove fruitful in the long run for the Philippines. Nelson said, “It will create renewed interest. It will create further jobs and it will be a benefit overall.” Nelson also mentioned how the lockdown restrictions have only led to a downgrade in the Philippines’ anticipated GDP growth and that by allowing a gradual reopening of the economy, balancing the need to support the health care workers and the economy will prove to be beneficial.
Recently, the Department of Budget and Management cut down their economic growth outlook for this year. Gross domestic product is now tipped to grow 4 percent to 5 percent this year, compared with a previous estimate of 6 percent to 7 percent. The outlook for 2022 was kept at 7 percent to 9 percent. In order to successfully achieve these figures for 2022, BCCP views much needed economic support must be provided by the government.
In a recent report, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 2020 data, the Philippines placed third most restrictive out of 83 economies on the Foreign Direct Investment Regulatory Board and is known as the most restrictive in Asean. This is not surprising as to why the Philippines has been registering only around 4 percent share of the annual FDI inflows into the Asean region in the past decade.
The Chamber still remains positive of the Philippines’ potential as an attractive market and continues to push for the country to be an entry point in the Southeast Asian Market. Passage of the bills will provide a great boost in promoting the country to the UK investors even further.
