‘Business as usual’ on economic, commercial side

The Department of Trade and Industry is optimistic that investor confidence in the local economy will remain strong despite some nasty remarks made by President Duterte.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said it was “business as usual” on the economic and commercial side, with investors remaining “unfazed” as they see the robustness of the Philippine economy.

“Investor confidence will be sustained. As long as there is consumer confidence, a growing consumer sector, better purchasing power, a young population and good economic indicators, the Philippines will continue to be attractive to investors,” Lopez explained.

What further makes the Philippines attractive, according to Lopez, were the plans of the Duterte administration to ramp up infrastructure spending, the country’s demographic dividend and the strategic location of the country, which can serve as a gateway to the rest of the Asean market.

The trade chief’s comments came after he was asked about the possible impact of Duterte’s comments against the United Nations and the European Union, challenging them to send their observers to the Philippines to investigate his government’s war on drugs.

For this, Lopez only noted that it would be best to leave the government’s war on drugs alone.

On the economic side, Lopez’s optimism stemmed from the country’s macroeconomic fundamen      tals, given its foreign reserves at more than $80 billion, low inflation rate, strong GDP growth, high foreign exchange remittances and low unemployment rate, among others. The value of investment commitments approved by promotion agencies, he added, had been promising as well and was expected to further increase in the second half.

“Our foreign direct investments have been increasing and we’ve been receiving a lot of investment missions and foreign chambers are visiting our office. They are all looking into the country, exploring more investments. Some of the existing companies are already talking us to us, disclosing their expansion plans,” he added.

Lopez added that when he recently talked with the EU ambassador, the issue about Duterte’s profanity was not even discussed. The talks revolved mainly about the bilateral economic ties between the Philippines and the EU and the ongoing negotiation on a free-trade agreement.