Raimondo: US firms on trade mission investing $1B By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
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HE 22 American companies that flocked to the Philippines for a Trade mission are investing over a billion dollars into the country, expecting to create educational opportunities for over 30 million Filipinos in the form of digital upskilling, among others, according to United States Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “On this trip alone, these companies are announcing over a billion dollars of US investments, including creating educational opportunities to over 30 million Filipinos in the form of digital up-
skilling, [artificial intelligence] AI upskilling, digital training,” Raimondo told reporters at a briefing held in Parañaque city on Monday. In a statement published on the White House’s website last March 7, the US announced the delegation for the Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines on March 11 and 12, 2024. Raimondo is leading the 22-member US delegation which includes executives of the following companies: GreenFire Energy, Inc.,Google Asia Pacific,Black & Veatch Corp.,Visa Inc. President’sExportCouncil,EchoStar/ DISH,InnovationForce, United Airlines,United Parcel Service (UPS),Boston Consulting
Group,KKR,Marquis,Sol-Go,Capital One Philippines,US-ASEAN Business Council, Bechtel,Apl.de.Ap Foundation International,FedEx,M astercard,Microsoft Corp., and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. In a separate statement released on Monday by Microsoft Corp., one of the 22 participating companies in the trade mission, the American multinational tech company said it is expanding its commitment to accelerate the effective use of artificial intelligence in the Philippines by advancing skilling, connectivity and cyber resilience. One of the partnership initiatives of the US-based tech firm with the Philippines’s Depart-
ment of Education (DepEd) aims to roll out Microsoft’s AI-powered Reading Progress tool to approximately 27 million students within DepEd’s national system. “A free application integrated into Microsoft Teams, the tool harnesses AI capabilities to support and track students’ reading fluency, specifically reading accuracy, speed, and pronunciation,” the tech firm said. Mary Snapp, Vice President of Global Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the Vice Chair and President at Microsoft, also announced that Microsoft will collaborate with the IT and Business See “Raimondo,” A2
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Tuesday, March 12, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 149
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6.6% TO $8.9B IN 2023 By Cai U. Ordinario
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@caiordinario
LOBAL uncertainties pushed foreign investors away from Philippine shores as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) net inflows contracted in 2023, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Based on the latest data, full-year 2023 FDI net inflows declined 6.6 percent to $8.9 billion from $9.5-billion net inflows recorded in 2022. In December 2023, FDIs, however, increased 29.9 percent to $826 million from the $636 million recorded in December 2022. “Notwithstanding the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals, concerns over subdued global economic growth and geopolitical risks continued to weigh on investors’ investment plans,” BSP said. The data showed net debt instruments increased 1.3 percent to $6.334 billion in 2023. In December 2023, it nearly doubled or posted a growth of 86.2 percent to $527 million. “Net investments in debt instruments consist mainly of intercompany bor-
rowing/lending between foreign direct investors and their subsidiaries/affiliates in the Philippines,” BSP explained. “The remaining portion of net investments in debt instruments are investments made by nonresident subsidiaries/associates in their resident direct investors, i.e., reverse investment,” it added. BSP data showed equity and investment fund shares contracted 22 percent to $2.53 billion in 2023 and 15.3 percent to $299 million in December 2023. The data showed net equity other than reinvestment of earnings also contracted in double-digits at 34 percent to $1.292 billion in 2023 and 21.7 percent to $208 million in December 2023. See “FDI,” A2
TRAIN, TRAIN GOING AWAY The Philippine National Railways (PNR) will be halting its Governor Pascual-Tutuban and Tutuban-Alabang operations for the next five years starting Maundy Thursday, March 28, 2024 to give way to the construction of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR). The closure is expected to affect around 300,000 commuters in Metro Manila who ride the trains every day. ROY DOMINGO
PBBM EYES U.S. CHIPS FUNDS TO GROW PHL DIGITAL TALENT By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
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RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the government is eyeing to produce 128,000 semiconductor engineers and technicians by 2028, to help it attract more investments from the United States (US). He noted he is eyeing funding from the US Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act to grow the local pool of talent in the semiconductor industry. “With our standing proposi-
tion to the US semiconductor companies to invest in a laboratory-scale wafer fabrication facility in the Philippines, we can support the R&D [research and development], and advanced assembly, packaging, and test requirements of US companies that are into semiconductors and electronics manufacturing services,” Marcos said during the courtesy call of the US government and Presidential Trade and Investment Mission (PTIM) delegation in Malacañang on Monday. See “PBBM,” A2
Manufacturing to improve in H2–Moody’s Analytics
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HE performance of the manufacturing sector is expected to improve in the second half of the year, according to Moody’s Analytics. In its weekly economic brief, Moody’s Analytics said the 1.9 percent growth in the country’s manufacturing output in January was disappointing. Nonetheless, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) in January was actually a four-month high but paled in comparison to the 7.3-percent growth in January 2023. “The outlook for industrial production should brighten in the
second half of the year as global demand picks up and the tech downturn becomes history,” Moody’s Analytics said. The January 2024 VoPI was the highest growth since the 9.3 percent posted in September 2023. The VoPI posted a growth of 1.6 percent in December 2023. “Philippine industrial production rose 1.9 percent year over year in January in volume terms and 0.9 percent in value terms. This compares with December gains of 1.6 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively,” Moody’s Analytics said. “Coke and refined petroleum products led growth in both respects.” See “Manufacturing,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.7590 n JAPAN 0.3791 n UK 71.7061 n HK 7.1301 n CHINA 7.7576 n SINGAPORE 41.8926 n AUSTRALIA 36.6668 n EU 61.0115 n KOREA 0.0424 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.8667 Source: BSP (March 11, 2024)