THE Board of Investments (BoI) has assigned itself an investment target above P700 billion next year, adding that it remain confident it will hit its 2018 target of P680 billion despite being at only 85% of that goal as of mid-November.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, in a mobile message, said investments next year are expected to come in “over” P700 billion. Mr. Lopez, who is concurrently the BoI chairman, was responding to a question on whether the indicator would hit P700 billion.
Mr. Lopez said his confidence for 2019 comes despite uncertainty over the state of investor incentives pending the passage of the TRABAHO (Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities) bill because he is looking forward to “more modern” high-value projects in manufacturing, agriculture, power, energy and infrastructure.
Businesses have expressed concern over the prospective rationalization of industry incentives under TRABAHO, with the bill’s failure to pass prolonging the uncertainty.
“We see less and less uncertainty to the extent that the discussions continue to address the concerns of stakeholders,” he said.
The BoI’s investment record was set in 2017 with P617 billion. In the year to date, investments are at P575 billion, though officials are confident the target can still be met over the remainder of the year.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Inclusive Business Leaders’ Conference on Wednesday, Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said the BoI is currently in talks with more investors who could come in before the end of the year, but declined to identify them.
Mr. Lopez concurred, adding that there are “good prospects” for hitting the 2018 goal, also without elaborating. — Janina C. Lim
