Direct Foreign Investments (DBI) are on its way to exceed the levels of 2019 this year, whereby investors were attracted by reforms that the Philippines have made a more attractive investment destination, said the Department of Finance (DOF).
“BDI levels are seen on their way to exceed the pre-Pandemic levels. To further expand this promising growth story, we have carefully designed strategic initiatives that maintain a tax sector that supports this goal, ”said Finance Minister Neil Adrian S. Cabiles during the Business World Insights: Stock Market Outlook 2025 Conference.
In the first 11 months of 2024, the net intake of the BDI-Netto rose by 4.4% to $ 8.58 billion, said the dull, accounting for 95.3% of the BSP of the $ BSP 9 billion.
In 2019, the last year before the Pandemie, the inflow of the FDI -Netto amounted to $ 8,671 billion.
In November, the net inflow of the FDI fell by 19.8% on an annual basis to $ 901 million.
Mr Cabiles said that reforms such as the corporate recovery and the tax stimuli for companies to maximize the opportunities to maximize the Economy (Create More) ACT, improve the convenience of doing business, upgrading the tax code and the rules for added value will be added clarify.
“This would mean streamlined compliance, reduce administrative burdens and make transactions more efficient. Create more also improves the competitiveness of the tax stimulans and reinforces the board and accountability for granting and monitoring these tax stimuli, creating more transparency and a more predictable investment environment. We expect that the Create More in particular will draw investments in infrastructure, heavy industry, the export -oriented production sector and services, “he said.
The Reforming Act for Real Estate Evaluation and Assessment and the rationalization of the Fiscal Regime of Mijnbouw will also improve the transparency and accountability in the real estate and mining industry respectively, he added.
The approval of the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act is also expected to increase the FDI -Netto intake by increasing the competitiveness of the capital markets.
“We expect a greater financial market activity through streamlined taxes on passive income and reduced taxes on share transactions and financial intermediaries,” Mr Cabiles said.
The recent exit of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Gray list of the Philippines also improves its’ profile and can increase its creditworthiness.
On Friday, the FATF removed the Philippines from the category of jurisdictions that require increased monitoring for “dirty money” on Friday after a “successful” visit on site. The Philippines were on the list since June 2021. – Aaron Michael C. Sy