INVESTORS from the United States see the potential for the Philippines to outperform its more than $10-billion record for foreign direct investment (FDI) as long as it focuses on key growth areas.
American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (AmCham) Senior Advisor John D. Forbes said US businesses are “always optimistic that the Philippines can achieve its potential and receive as much FDI as Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.”
He cited the Joint Foreign Chambers study released in 2010 which identified the so-called “Seven Big Winner Sectors” of agribusiness, business process outsourcing, creative industries, infrastructure, manufacturing and logistics, mining, and tourism, including medical tourism and retirement.
“If all seven of these sectors were made competitive and open to foreign investment, we are confident FDI can reach between $15 and $20 billion a year,” Mr. Forbes added in an e-mail.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas revised its 2018 FDI forecast to $9.2 billion from $8.2 billion previously, though its estimate falls below the 2017 record of $10.05 billion.
Citing estimates by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Mr. Forbes said Philippine FDI exceeded Malaysia’s $9.6 billion and Thailand’s $7.5 billion last year, though it lagged Vietnam’s $14 billion.
“In Vietnam the cost of production in manufacturing are significantly lower,” he added.
He said 89 factories in Vietnam with staffing of about 390,000 make export products for Nike, Inc. He added that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s exports from Vietnam are “worth almost as much as all the electronic exports of the Philippines.”
Aside from the United States, the country’s biggest FDI flows last year came from the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. — Janina C. Lim
