The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Russian businessmen got a glimpse of “Dutertenomics” and business opportunities in the Philippines in a business forum held during the recent state visit of President Duterte to Moscow.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez presented to Russian businessmen in Moscow and St. Petersburg Dutertenomics, which is the Duterte administration’s socioeconomic agenda that aims to ease the conduct of business in the country to attract more investments and create quality jobs for Filipinos.
The trade chief described Dutertenomics as the President’s push for a better quality of life for all Filipinos, as well as growth with equity, to address inequality and reduce poverty.
He said a big part of the Dutertenomics is to close the infrastructure gap by spending more in public infrastructure.
From 5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the government targets to increase expenditure to 7 percent in the next five years, allotting up to P1.5 trillion a year for infrastructure projects.
Lopez noted that the administration’s infrastructure agenda offers opportunities that Russian investors could explore.
Aside from infrastructure, Russian businessmen also have opportunities in the Philippines in such priority sectors as services, manufacturing, agribusiness, logistics, and tourism.
“Opportunities really abound. Starting from scratch, from ground zero. And just from the first meeting this recent past few days, we have noticed an immediate good chemistry between the business communities from both Philippines and Russia,” Lopez said.
“We expect the huge potential to really happen because of the much-improved ties of our leaders.”
For Russian Ministry of Economic Development Deputy Minister Alexander Tsybulskiy, he said Russia would like to diversify its relations with the Philippines, particularly in economic cooperation.
Tsybulskiy mentioned that the Philippines is an interesting market with its economic growth, one of the fastest growing economies in the region.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the business fora, a total of USD875 million (about PHP44 billion) worth of business-to-business deals were signed by Filipino and Russian businesses.
More than 200 Philippine-based businessmen attended the business fora here. They are into construction, infrastructure, logistics, services, IT, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, energy, and mining. The administration’s economic and development blueprint for the Philippines is on the right track, particularly its massive infrastructure program, according to an economist.
“The mantra is build, build and build… We need a lot more to be able to be more competitive,” said former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Dr. Cielito Habito.
Habito hoped that the government will succeed in delivering such massive ‘DuterteNomics’ infrastructure program, which he considered among the imperatives for sustained growth.
The government planned to spend P8.64 trillion to fund the “golden age of infrastructure” over the next six years.
“So what some people are afraid is the absorptive capacities of our agencies; how well they can really handle dramatically boosted infrastructure program,” he said in an interview.
Apart from big-ticket infrastructure programs, DuterteNomics includes the administration’s main governance and fiscal policies and upgraded social services targeted to accelerate growth.
Habito, a Professor of Economics in the Ateneo de Manila University, also urged the need to ease investment restrictions and reduce regulatory burden to build a more conducive business environment in the country.