PBBM admin in full force in promoting PH as an attractive investment destination to US biz community

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA—President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and his cabinet secretaries came in full force in promoting the Philippines as an attractive investment destination to the United States business community during the Philippine Economic Briefing (PEB) in San Francisco on November 15, 2023 at The Ritz-Carlton.

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, who leads the Marcos, Jr. administration’s economic team, showcased the Philippines as one of the fastest-growing countries in the ASEAN region.

“We have opened up the economy. We didn’t wait for the virus to subside, we opened up many sectors of the economy and the economy really is doing very well. It is one of the fastest-growing countries in the fastest-growing region in the world. So this is our moment,” he said during the panel discussion alongside Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr.; Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman; and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

Prior to the panel discussions, the Finance Chief participated in a fireside chat with Asia Citigroup Singapore Managing Director and Head of the Public Sector Group Michael J. Paulus.

Secretary Diokno dove into the Philippines’ first-ever Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF), Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), and global bond offerings.

To achieve fiscal consolidation, the economic team designed the MTFF to reduce the country’s deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3 percent by 2028, reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio to less than 60 percent by 2025, then further down to 51 percent by 2028, and sustain high infrastructure spending at 5 to 6 percent of GDP annually.

According to the Finance Secretary, the Philippines’ debt-to-GDP ratio has fallen to 60.2 percent in the third quarter of 2023 from 61.0 percent in the previous quarter, suggesting that the Philippines is firmly on track to attaining its target debt ratio.

To achieve this, he further explained that the Philippines adopts a borrowing mix that is 70 percent foreign and 30 percent domestic to minimize foreign exchange risk. The government must also ensure that the economy continues to grow strongly in the