By Joann Santiago
MANILA, March 12 (PNA) — A Palace official on Thursday stressed the need for moreinfrastructure projects to support rising foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the country.
This after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported last week that FDIs posted a record-high growth of 65.9 percent year-on-year in 2014 after hitting USD 6.2 billion due to higher investors’ confidence on back of improvement in the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in an interview over state radio station Radyo ng Bayan, said the big jump of FDIs to the Philippines showed wider and deeper trust of foreign investors in the country.
He said these investments translated to increase in employment and expansion of the economy.
” Pero ito rin ay nagsi-signal sa kahalagahan ng pag-catch up natin sa mahalagang larangan ng imprastruktura. Kailangan pa ring magtatag ng mas marami pang mahusay na pasilidad, katulad ng mga airports, sea ports, highways, bridges. (But this also signals the importance of catching-up on important infrastructure. There is still a need to put in more efficient facilities like airports, sea ports, highways and bridges),” he said.
Coloma said importance of connectivity is huge especially in an archipelagic country like the Philippines.
He cited the port congestion issue that happened in Manila last year, which happened after the City of Manila implemented an expanded truck ban in its area from February to September 2014.
He said the said program negatively affected the domestic economy and was not a good sign on the part of the government in its bid to attract more foreign investors.
Thus, he said that as the government continue to encourage the entry of more foreign investments in the country so is the implementation of programs that promotes inclusive growth. (PNA)