Dominguez allays fears of American businessmen in PH
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez will meet with American businessmen in the country to discuss their concerns amid increasingly frayed ties between the Philippines and the United States and President Duterte’s new focus on China.
But Dominguez said he believed US firms would remain in the country as long as they both benefited from the arrangement.
“There are many business transactions between the Philippines and the United States and actually, these transactions are really based on mutual benefit to each other. And I think they will continue if there is a mutual benefit,” Dominguez said at a press briefing in Malacañang.
But he also said he did not know exactly how the policies of the Philippine and US governments would affect business decisions.
Mr. Duterte, during a recent visit to China, announced the Philippines’ economic and military separation from the United States, but later added that diplomatic ties would not be severed.
He also said the Philippines would be more dependent on China when it came to trade and commerce.
The President has been angry at the United States for threatening to cut aid to the country amid concerns about the spate of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the country.
Dominguez said he had scheduled a meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce to thrash out any issue it may have about doing business in the country.
“We’re open to meeting with them and discussing with them all their concerns,” he added.
Members of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry could also air any worries they may have during the Philippine Development Forum in Davao City on Nov. 8 and 9.
Dominguez encouraged BPO firms to attend the forum, which the finance department is organizing.
BPO concerns
The BPO industry earlier sought a meeting with the President to discuss their concerns about his new policy concerning the United States.
Asked if he thought the new, “independent” foreign policy of the Duterte administration would keep American businessmen away from the country, Dominguez said he had spoken informally with a US state department official, who encouraged the Philippines to have good relationships with its neighbors, including China and Japan.
A state department official also told the finance secretary that the United States had a “very good relationship, but complicated relationship” with these countries.
“You know, we are in discussions with everybody. I think the new policy of the President is to open doors to all,” he said.
The President’s economic policy, particularly with regard to China, is “very sound,” he further said.
China has a population of 1.3 billion who would need products produced in the Philippines, he pointed out.
“So it makes sense for us to have a good relationship with them, just as the US has a good relationship with them, and so have the Europeans,” he said.
Rosy prospects
Dominguez also sees rosy prospects for the Philippine economy.
With the low inflation rate, a stable currency, a young population, and stable and good macroeconomic policies, it was hard to see where the country could go wrong, he said.
The administration intends to increase public spending on infrastructure, such as new roads and railways, to boost growth, he said.
It would also broaden public access to banks and capital markets, support small business industries with accessible credit, and raise capital for industry.
The administration has also taken “decisive steps” to improve the ease of doing business in the country, he further said.
To reduce poverty incidence, Dominguez said the administration would build more infrastructure, implement the reproductive health law and improve investment in education and social services.
