Economic team: PH piques interest of investors with growth story

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND—President Marcos’ “timely” debut on the World Economic Forum (WEF) stage as the Philippines’ new CEO—one who is pitching a robust growth story while the rest of the world is facing a looming recession—would bring home investments and business partnerships that could benefit Filipinos for the long term, his top economic managers said.

Investment giant BlackRock, financial services Morgan Stanley, Swiss mining multinational Glencore, logistics firm BP World, insurance giant AXA, satellite provider Astranis and online education provider Coursera are among those who have expressed interest to expand in the Philippines, the President’s top officials said on Wednesday as they briefed the media about what he has accomplished so far during the first three days of the WEF annual meeting held in the upscale ski resort town of Davos at the foot of the Swiss Alps.

“Our real purpose is to sell the country,” Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said. “That is why our participation in this Davos conference is very timely. First, this is the first time in three years that they have resumed a face-to-face meeting; and, secondly, we have a very nice story to tell after the pandemic,” Diokno said.

Creating job opportunities

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said, “If companies who sell products advertise, come up with promotions, a country also needs it and we see we have progressive neighboring countries that are even more aggressive in selling their country as an investment destination. By this, we can create quality jobs that will benefit ordinary people.”

For the ordinary citizen, Pascual said the end-result of the influx of investments would be in the form of employment, food security and social services.

“We are relatively a small country but we aspire to become a rich country. And the only way we can do that is we need to expand our markets to create job opportunities for our Filipinos,” said Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.

“We can’t just depend on the domestic market for job creation. We need to expand the penetration of our companies and firms—producers including farmers to other markets—that’s the only way you can raise the quality of jobs and wages, eventually,” Balisacan said.

It was important to explain to the ordinary citizen why the team was working so hard to attract foreign investments, he said.

“Those foreign investments will create jobs, such as those that will set up factories to sell to the local market as well as to use the Philippines as a hub for exporting to other Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, making full use of the free trade agreement among the Asean member-countries,” he added.

According to the economic team, the country’s full-year 2022 gross domestic product growth rate likely exceeded the target range of 6.5 to 7.5 percent. The President has likewise expressed optimism that growth this 2023 would remain robust at 7 percent.

“It is incredible—I think now, the Philippines is the fastest growing of the Asean countries,” WEF president Børge Brende said on Wednesday during his one-on-one dialogue with Mr. Marcos.