THE BOARD of Investments (BoI) said it is touting the electronics and outsourcing sectors to potential investors from Europe.
The investment promotion agency held a virtual event with European companies, highlighting possible partnerships.
“We are targeting two sectors, the Electronics and Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) for Europe to invest,” BoI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said in a statement Tuesday.
He said electronics took up the largest share of Philippine exports last year. The Philippines hosts around 500 semiconductor and electronics firms.
Mr. Rodolfo also promoted outsourcing in both low-cost and high-value applications, including finance and accounting, software development, data analytics, and supply chain management.
The semiconductor industry group, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc., set a 7% industry growth forecast for 2021.
Electronics exports fell 8.8% to $39.67 billion in 2020 after operations suffered from disruptions during the lockdown, well short of the pre-pandemic forecast of 5% growth.
Outsourcing revenue rose 1.4% to $26.7 billion last year, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines said.
Revenue grew 7.1% in 2019, beating industry targets.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said that there is room for investment growth between Europe and the Philippines because of consumer demand from either market, along with supply chains that can be developed across industries.
“The nature and quality of investments from European companies and business partnerships formed with our companies have helped move the Philippines up the value chain,” he said.
European companies invested P23.4 billion in the Philippines in 2020, the BoI said. Top European investment sources were the UK, the Netherlands, and France.
The BoI said approved investment proposals from all sources in 2020 hit P1.02 trillion, against the P1.25-trillion target set before the pandemic. — Jenina P. Ibañez
