FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the Philippines is looking forward to hosting American business delegation as it noted the lack of participation of US firms in government’s infrastructure projects.
A statement quoted Dominguez in his speech during the Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) in Washington, D.C. According to the head of the Department of Finance, “a lot” of US investors have expressed their interests in supporting the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program; however, “no serious offer has come” from them.
“Our alliance of long-standing should be strengthened even more by forward-looking business partnerships,” Dominguez was quoted in the statement as saying. According to the DOF chief, some investors expressed interest in the New Clark City project in Central Luzon.
This project seeks to raise from the ground the country’s first “smart and green” metropolis. The project also expects the rapid transformation of the growth corridor between the Clark and Subic free ports. Both Clark and Subic were used by the Americans as military bases. Dominguez said that historical fact “should be of particular interest to US businesses.”
“This area has attracted new industries and promises to be a center of modern enterprise in the region,” he said. “The fast transformation of the growth corridor between Subic Bay and Clark should be of particular interest to US businesses.”
Dominguez purportedly said during the forum that the Duterte administration will further ramp up spending on infrastructure to 7 percent of gross domestic product by the time the President, which has been vocal against the United States, steps down in 2022.
Dominguez was said to have cited the government’s tax-reform program as another reason for investing in the government’s infrastructure development program.
He was said to have expressed confidence “that with improved revenue collections, alongside the strong support of the Philippines’s development partners such as Japan, China and Korea, the infrastructure program will help our economy weather the headwinds created by the projected global slowdown.”
“Game-changing reforms will ensure that the continuous growth we achieve is funded equitably by the Filipino people. Our CTRP [Comprehensive Tax Reform Program] will modernize policies toward a simpler, fairer tax system while ensuring robust and recurrent revenues for the government,” Dominguez said.