Econ team hosts 8th investor roadshow before SONA, urges Canadian businesses to explore investments in PH

The economic team of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. hosted its eighth Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, Canada on July 13, 2023 (Eastern Daylight Time) to apprise Canadian investors of business opportunities in the Philippines in time for the President’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“We have uncharted waters to explore in terms of trade and investments in mutual areas of interest, including electronics manufacturing, machineries and electricity, mining, and agriculture,” Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said in his keynote message.

Canada is the Philippines’ 20th largest trading partner in 2022 with total trade reaching US$1.5 billion. Moreover, with nearly a million overseas Filipinos in Canada, cash remittances reached US$1.2 billion in the same year.

Canada is a global leader in clean energy with around 68 percent of its total electricity generation in 2020 sourced from hydro, wind, solar, and other renewable sources. In 2021, it emerged as the third largest producer of hydroelectricity.

The economic managers shared that just recently, the Philippines opened its renewable energy (RE) sector to full foreign ownership under the revised Renewable Energy Act Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

“Canada, a global leader in clean energy, may benefit from the recent liberalization of the Philippines’ renewable energy sector. Foreign enterprises may now participate in the country’s RE sector, particularly in solar, wind, hydro, and tidal energy,” Secretary Diokno said.

During his presentation, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. recognized the BSP’s role in slowing climate change and proposed eleven strategies, one of which is encouraging banks to disclose the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts of assets.

According to him, the BSP will work with scientists to develop a taxonomy of bank assets and examine whether these are beneficial or harmful to the environment.

In his welcome message, Alain Auclair, Managing Director and Head of Global Banking-Canada of UBS Securities Canada, acknowledged the Philippines’ strong credit status and attractive fixed-income