MALACAÑANG wants DBS Bank to “specify” the foreign-direct investments (FDI) allegedly being restricted by existing government regulations.
“Perhaps, DBS can specify what kind of FDIs are being covered by restrictive rules,” Palace Chief Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
He said the Aquino administration remains committed to finding ways to make it easier for foreign investors to come in and do business here.
“The fact that our economic fundamentals are sound, we have been improving our business registry process,” the Palace official said.
Lacierda said the Aquino administration’s unrelenting drive to ease doing business here “all contributed to the jump in our position in the Global Competitiveness Index [which] shows the Philippine government efforts to improve the overall business climate.”
President Aquino, in his four-nation trade and diplomatic mission in Europe this week, had also been harping on major reforms undertaken by his administration to make the country more conducive to doing business amid prevailing global uncertainties.
Aquino assured European Union leaders and business people in separate meetings that his administration is also working to further reduce regulatory risks to potential investors, saying the Philippines is open for business.
He said the government had, likewise, “leveled the playing field,” assuring potential investors the administration is moving to further minimize regulatory risk.
Mr. Aquino earlier asserted before business groups prior to leaving for a two-week sojourn in Europe and the United States that largely due to these reforms, the country’s economy grew by 7.2 percent in 2013, putting the Philippines in the list of the best-performing economies in Asia.
For the second quarter of 2014, he said, the gross domestic product was recorded at 6.4 percent even as some sectors were still reeling from the effects of a series of disasters that hit the country late last year.
The President said even the international community took notice of the Philippines’s turnaround as credit-rating agencies announced a total of 20 positive credit actions for the in the past four years of his administration.
He listed Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poors, which declared the Philippines as investment grade, among the most significant upgrades the country got last year.
Aquino said the Philippines, likewise, climbed consistently in the global-competitiveness ranking, pointing to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2014 report, which recorded the country jumping to 52nd place in the WEF index, going up 33 notches from 85th place in 2010.
“All this was a result of our belief in our people and our efforts to put them in the global spotlight,” the President said, adding that “the resurgence of the Philippines is a result of striving for success in the face of challenges.”