Investment priorities plan to be finalized

The final draft of the 2014 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) will include all the seven sectors presented in consultation with various stakeholders, making activities under these industries eligible to receive incentives over the next three years.

Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. made this confirmation, as he noted that the 2014 IPP is now being finalized for the signing by the trade chief and for submission to Malacañang.

These sectors were identified as manufacturing; agribusiness and fishery; services; economic and low-cost housing; energy; public infrastructure and logistics; and public private partnership (PPP) projects.

The Department of Trade and Industry expects to finally submit to Malacañang this month the 2014 Investments Priorities Plan (IPP), which will reflect an overhauled list of specific industries eligible for fiscal and nonfiscal incentives.

Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo had said that he was batting for the submission of the 2014 IPP three months ago, but there were many changes that were made on the latest IPP that probably caused the delay in the submission of the draft to his office.

Once signed, the 2014 IPP will be up for approval by Malacañang.

Cristobal earlier said the 2014 IPP would be effective for three years to coincide with the end of the current Philippine Development Plan in 2016.

“The practice is to have a new list annually, but the new document will be a three-year document so we’ll have stability and certainty for investors. Since there is an annual legal requirement of review, it will just be a minor review, maybe to add rather than subtract,” Cristobal earlier explained.

“A consistent, coherent, and predictable policy environment attracts serious investors to choose the Philippines as their investment destination. We are after businesses that come here for the long term,” he had said.

Over the last 40 years, the IPP has been reviewed and changed on an annual basis. Every year, the BOI receives recommendations from relevant government agencies and the private sector for proposed changes in the list of sectors and economic activities that are eligible for fiscal incentives under the IPP.

However, the issuance of the IPP has always been marred by delays, such as in the case of the 2013 IPP which was approved and issued by Malacañang only in November last year.