BOI expects more investments to pour in

CEBU, Philippines — The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) expects more investments will come in light of the signing of the newly-enhanced Investments Promotion Units Network Memorandum of Agreement (IPU Net MOA) on July 10, 2019.

The MOA has expanded the number of participating government departments and agencies from the original 27 to 37 for a stronger collaboration aimed at furthering the ease of doing business and making the country more competitive in attracting investments.

In his keynote address, Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon M. Lopez said, “this is a whole government approach. With the addition of new agencies, this is one team we are presenting so that that we can all work together and act as one in helping address all concerns of investors. The sentiment of investors has been generally very favorable as we have experienced record level of investments in the past two years. With the share of foreign investors steadily increasing, we are aiming to hit over a trillion pesos worth of investments this year. This enhanced MOA will make it more easy for the investors to bring in more capital and expand and for the country to bring more opportunities and create more jobs.”

Since 2007, the IPU Net MOA has been a commitment from among the original members as a collective responsibility to sustain the efforts of the government in facilitating issues and concerns with prompt actions, streamlining of procedures and establishing a seamless coordination among its members to provide immediate resolution on all investment-related transactions with efficiency.

“So many things have happened since then in the economic, technological and policy fronts that we now need to modernize the MOA to reflect these changes,” said Trade Secretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo.

With the strengthened partnership of BOI and the old and new members of the newly enhanced IPU Net MOA and the direct involvement of the ARTA, the agency sees the opportunity of building a trust-based relationship with the private sector stakeholders leading to better opportunities of sustaining investments growth and business expansion.