PBBM pitches digital infra, agri, tourism
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CNN PHL, ALLTV TIE-UP (From left) Advanced Media Broadcasting System (AMBS) Chief Finance Officer Maryknoll Zamora, CNN Philippines President Benjie Ramos and AMBS President Maribeth Tolentino sign a partnership agreement between the two networks to broadcast CNN’s flagship news program News Night in Filipino on AMBS’s ALLTV, Monday to Friday starting September 13, 2022. Story in Companies, B1. NONIE REYES
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NVEST in “Asia’s fastest rising star.” This was how President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pitched the country to Singaporean investors during the economic briefing held by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in Singapore last Wednesday. In his keynote address for the event, Marcos highlighted the country’s readiness “to outperform its regional peers” with its planned investments in digital and public infrastructure, and transportation developments. Other sectors with potential growth, he said, will be the agriculture industry and the tourism industry. “To this end, we are pursuing the country’s first-ever medium-term fiscal framework, which will widen our fiscal space to allow for continued investments in public infrastructure and human capital development,” Marcos said. “This strategy will enable us to reduce pov-
erty sharply and upgrade the country to upper middle-income status,” he added.
Greater participation
THE President also said the passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act or CREATE, and the economic liberalization measures will allow “wider participation” of foreign investors in local industries. “We have expanded the space for foreign investments in and joint venture opportunities for industry players employing cutting-edge technologies,” Marcos said. “We invite strategic investors from the international community to take part in the Philippines’ economic resurgence,” he added. Marcos’s speech was followed by the preS “PBBM,” A
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P4-T BIG INFRA PROJECTS TO BE FINISHED BY 2028 Best time to invest in PHL, Diokno tells SG bizmen
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@caiordinario
HE Marcos administration intends to complete 73 big-ticket infrastructure projects, costing P4.05 trillion, which were not finished during the previous administration, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). In a presentation at the organizational meeting of the House Committee on Flagship Programs and Projects, Neda Assistant Secretary for Investment Programming Roderick M. Planta said the 73 projects were culled from the 112 Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs) of the previous administration. In total, the 112 IFPs amount to P5.04 trillion. This also includes eight projects worth P55.43 billion that were completed, and four projects amounting to P69.07 billion which were inaugurated and partially operational. “This Build, Build, Build program is intended to address the development challenges in infrastructure development as articulated in the Philippine Development Plan. Going to the Infrastructure Flagship Projects, this is technically a subset of the Build, Build, Build program,” Planta explained. “This IFP was conceptualized in 2017 with the aim of prioritizing game changing and urgently needed projects of national security class significance,” he added. The 73 projects include 47 that are ongoing construction and implementation, worth P2.33 trillion; and 26 projects undergoing pre-construction activities, worth P1.71 trillion. Apart from the ongoing projC A
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DREAMLAND A farmer carries grass for carabao feed on his head as he crosses a rice field in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, on Saturday, September 3, 2022. He is among many farmers waiting for the promised government aid that the Department of Budget and Management has approved for release to the Department of Agriculture last month. Sen. Imee Marcos earlier called DA’s attention on the delay of the release of the P8-billion government subsidy. NONIE REYES
INANCE Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno urged Singaporean investors to do business in the Philippines, saying now is the best time to do so as the country’s economic prospects are “bright and promising.” Speaking before the business and finance communities in Singapore, Diokno said the Philippine economy grew by 7.4 percent in the second quarter of this year despite the ongoing risks posed by rising commodity prices and current geopolitical risks. Diokno, who heads the government’s Economic Development Cluster, also vowed that the administration is committed to establishing an “even more business and investment-friendly environment” in the country. “As we rebuild our economy and gun for rapid, broad-based growth in the next six years, we have opened our doors even wider for mutually beneficial investments. This is why we believe that this is the best time to do business in the C A
FIXED-INCOME WORKERS BEAR BRUNT OF INFLATION B C U. O @caiordinario
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AGE and salaried workers are the ones who bear the brunt of high commodity prices, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). In a virtual briefing, Neda Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie G. Edillon said among these workers, the most affected are those who have fi xed incomes whose purchasing power gets eroded. Inflation affects the purchasing power of Filipinos. Based on the inflation rate of 6.3 percent in August, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the purchasing power of the peso is at 0.86, which
means buying P100 worth of goods in 2018 would now cost P114. “Kapag mataas iyong inflation ibig sabihin po nito ay bumababa iyong sinasabi nating purchasing power lalo na po doon sa mga wage [and] salary workers na hindi po tumataas iyong suweldo nila [If inflation is high, this means purchasing power declines, especially among wage and salaried workers whose salaries do not increase],” Edillon said. “Iyong mga fi xed income earners, ito po iyong medyo dehado rito kasi nababawasan iyong puwede nilang mabili [The fi xed income earners are the ones who suffer more because the goods they can purchase are reduced],” she added. Edillon said these workers would have to be more resourceful
in terms of finding cheaper goods in order to stretch their budgets. “So ang suggestion po namin is talagang maging very informed ang bawat isa at talagang maghanap po kung saan pwedeng makabili ng mas mura at kung maaari piliin din po iyong produkto na mas mura sa ngayon [Our suggestion is for each one of them to be well informed and look for places where they can purchase cheaper goods right now],” Edillon said. Apart from this, Edillon said, the government has also been providing subsidies to Filipinos such as the “libreng sakay” program for commuters in Metro Manila as well as students who are already attending face-to-face classes. C A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 56.9500 ■ JAPAN 0.3989 ■ UK 65.6007 ■ HK 7.2551 ■ SINGAPORE 40.4906 ■ AUSTRALIA 38.3615 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 15.1551 ■ EU 56.4204 ■ KOREA 0.0413 ■ CHINA 8.1890
Source: BSP (September 7, 2022)