‘More investments needed to achieve growth target’

MANILA, Philippines — The government needs to attract more investments to achieve a six to seven percent economic growth, according to the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF).

In a forum, FEF vice chairman Romeo Bernardo said the government needs to stimulate more investments for the country to attain a six to seven percent economic growth.

“In the past, our growth has been driven by consumption and consumption cannot be relied upon in a situation where people have lost their jobs, incomes have fallen, inflation is high and you have global recession,” he said.

Bernardo said the previous administration has approved measures such as the amendments to the Public Service Act (PSA), Retail Trade Liberalization (RTL) Act, and Foreign Investments Act (FIA), which are seen to help encourage the entry of more investments into the country.

The amended PSA allows full foreign equity in telecommunications, domestic shipping, railways, subways, airlines, airports, expressways and tollways.

Meanwhile, the amended RTL reduced the minimum paid-up capital for foreign investors in the retail sector.

As for the amended FIA, it allows foreign firms to invest up to 100 percent in a domestic enterprise, unless participation is prohibited or limited by existing laws.

Bernardo said the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, when ratified, would also help get more investors to come to the country.

RCEP is considered the world’s biggest free trade area, accounting for 30 percent of the world’s population and of global gross domestic product.

“So all those things can help bring our growth to the six percent to seven percent that we are all aspiring for,” Bernardo said.

Earlier this week, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the Marcos administration is looking at a 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent economic growth in its first year in office.

While this is an improvement from the 5.7 percent gross domestic product growth last year, it is below the seven to eight percent assumption set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee in May.

The economy grew by 8.3 percent in the first quarter.