Gov’t execs off to woo investors in Australia

The country’s economic officials are headed to Australia this month to woo investors in public infrastructure and mining.

The road show on Sept. 12 will promote the Philippine government’s push for infrastructure development.

Also, the event is supposed to boost mining in the Philippines, a resource-rich country where investments remain weak.

The Philippine team will be headed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

Other officials are Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Assistant Governor Ma. Cyd Tuaño-Amador, National Treasurer Roberto Tan, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, and Cosette Canilao of the Public-Private Partnership Center.

According to the Investor Relations Office, the Filipino economic officials will meet with fund managers, bankers, and businessmen in Australia who may be interested in investing in public infrastructure and mining in the Philippines.

The government is promoting investments in public infrastructure under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program.

Private sector investments are deemed necessary because the government is still facing a crippling budget deficit and can not afford to pay for costly infrastructure on its own.

Meantime, officials have admitted that there is much room for mining investments to grow, noting that the flow of capital remains lackluster even after the government relaxed its rules on foreign investments in the sector.

The mining and quarrying sector contracted by 0.4 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, data from the National Statistical Coordination Board showed.

The Philippine team is expected to highlight the country’s favorable macroeconomic fundamentals, including healthy economic growth, benign inflation, stable banking sector, growing population of earning individuals, and strong remittances that fuel household spending, among others.

The government reported the other day that the Philippine economy grew by 5.9 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, keeping the full-year target of 5 to 6 percent attainable.

In the first half of the year, average growth of the Philippine economy stood at 6.1 percent.

Inflation averaged at 3.1 percent in the first seven months, prompting officials to project that the full-year rate of rise in consumer prices will be at the lower end of the 3- to 5-percent target.

Remittances are projected to grow by 5 percent this year from last year’s $20.1 billion.