Mitsui plowing in $.6B for PHL infra project By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
J EXPLAINER »B4
THERE AND BACK AGAIN?
APA NESE firm Mitsui & Co. will be investing at least US$600 million in the country for infrastructure development. In a press statement on Sunday, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) disclosed that Mitsui will partner with Filipino tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan for the infrastructure project. Pangilinan announced during the just-concluded five-day official visit of President Ferdinand
US forces returning to Philippines to counter China threats
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R. Marcos, Jr. to Japan that he has signed an agreement with Mitsui for a project. Aside from infrastructure, Mitsui is considering additional investments in other sectors. “Mitsui & Co., meanwhile, also eyes investments in priority sectors of the administration of President Marcos, particularly in agriculture, infrastructure and renewable energy,” the PCO said. Marcos lauded Mitsui for being among the Japanese firms, who announced their timely decision to invest in the country to help in the
government’s ongoing pandemic recovery initiatives. “It is a particularly auspicious time that we come again now simply because we have to now restart our own economies, we have to transform our economies, and again the partnerships, I think, that we have developed with our friends here in Japan, with Mitsui in particular… we will have to revitalize them as they have been dormant, to a degree, during the lockdowns of the pandemic,” Marcos said. In Japan, Marcos witnessed the
signing of 35 letters of intent (LOI)/ agreements by Japanese firms with government and members of the private sector. The deals cover a wide range of sectors including manufacturing, infrastructure development, energy, transportation, healthcare, renewable energy, and business expansion. This was on top of the seven agreements signed by the Philippine and Japanese governments on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, infrastructure, agriculture, and digital cooperation.
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Monday, February 13, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 121
‘STICKY’ INFLATION SEEN TO DRAG DOWN GROWTH n
By Cai U. Ordinario
T
Japan financial firm ‘keen’ on MIF investment–Speaker
@caiordinario
HE performance of the Philippine economy will be below its historical average this year and next year, as GDP growth will not even reach 5 percent in 2023 and 2024, according to a UK-based think tank.
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
A
RANKING official of one of Japan’s leading financial institutions has expressed strong interest in the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund and its potential to help the Philippine power sector, according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez. The House leader said he met the Japanese senior official during the dinner held for President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and the Philippine delegation, hosted by Mitsui and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation. “It was during our conversation that he expressed strong interest (in the Maharlika Investment Fund) and in the possibility of in-
In its latest forecast, Oxford Economics said the country’s economic growth will only reach 4.1 percent this year and 4.5 percent in 2024 on the back of sticky inflation which is expected to dampen demand. The think tank is also concerned that the forecast of other institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the Philippines and other emerging markets, may be too optimistic. “Although the downturn looks likely to be mild, the subsequent recovery may underwhelm. Demand will be challenged by potentially sticky inflation, overtightening in core central banks, and scarring to potential GDP,” Oxford Economics said. IMF expects the country’s GDP growth to average 5 percent this year and 6 percent next year. Oxford Economics said this is 0.9 percentage points more than its forecast for 2023 and 1.5 percentage points more than its 2024 outlook. If this happens, this would be the lowest growth the Philippines will register since 2020, the first pandemic year, when the economy contracted 9.5 percent. It may be noted that full-year GDP growth, excluding 2020, has consistently been growing faster than 5.5 percent since 2012.
Emerging markets
TAKEN together, emerging markets are expected to post an average growth of 3.2 percent in 2023 and 4.2 percent in 2024. See “Sticky inflation,” A2
vestment in the proposed sovereign wealth fund, particularly for the power sector,” Romualdez said. Among others, the MIF is intended to help achieve the “Agenda for Prosperity” and the objectives of sustainable and inclusive growth and attract additional investments for big-ticket infrastructure projects and other development programs of the government. According to Romualdez, the interest in the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund shown by the Japanese senior financial official, whom he did not identify, is significant because he played a key role in setting up Indonesia’s own sovereign wealth fund known as INA (Indonesia Investment Authority). See “Japan,” A2
NESPRESSO MACHINES, PODS ENJOY ROBUST SALES, THANKS TO PINOYS’ COFFEE HABIT By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
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NATURE’S FRIENDS Susan Santos de Cardenas, vice chairman of the Asian Ecotourism Network and president of the Society of Sustainable Tourism; Masaru Takuyama, president of the Asean Tourism Network; and Dr. Mina T. Gabor, chairman and president of the Silang, Cavite-based International School of Sustainable Tourism, hold hands around a century-old Peruvian Parasol tree during an ocular visit of the place. With an eye to pushing intitiatives in favor of nature, participants from a total of 22 countries are converging from March 29 to April 2, 2023, in Silang, Cavite, for the first International Ecotourism Travel Mart, the world's first green travel mart. NONIE REYES
ILIPINOS are one of the largest per-capita consumers of coffee in the world, which makes the country ideal for selling Nespresso machines. In an interview with the BusinessMirror at the launch of the Vertuo line of machines and coffee capsules, Patrick Pesengco, Managing Director of Novateur Coffee Concepts Inc. said, “We have 41,000-plus very active Nespresso club members in the Philippines, between the people who buy the machines and cap-
sules. But definitely there are thousands [of units] that we’ve been selling. So it’s been growing, especially during the pandemic, because people want to have good coffee at home. So we’ve been growing double digits.” Nespresso is a company founded by the Nestle Group of Switzerland in 1986, selling the world’s first portioned coffee system. While most of their sales were boosted via e-commerce during the pandemic, he noted that as alert levels dropped, “when people started going out, our store sales went up,” while online sales have slowed. See “Nespresso machines,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.7440 n JAPAN 0.4161 n UK 66.3662 n HK 6.9740 n CHINA 8.0684 n SINGAPORE 41.3037 n AUSTRALIA 37.9650 n EU 58.7951 n KOREA 0.0433 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.5883 Source: BSP (February 10, 2023)