BOI taps IFC for policy devt

THE Board of Investments (BoI) and the International Finance Corporation-World Bank (IFC-WB), recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of investment policy, industrial promotion, and local supplier linkages in the country.

In a statement, the BOI said the MOU calls on the IFC to provide technical assistance and advisory support through a foreign direct investments (FDI)- centric industrial promotion by repositioning the Philippines as a competitive location for next generation investments.

The move is in support of the government’s implementation of the Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S).

“Industry 4.0 is potentially disruptive and poses a challenging task on how to sustain not only the level of FDI inflows but also the growth of manufacturing and services in the economy. We have to be ready on how to offset these challenges and disruption with new strategies and interventions tailor-made for industries so that they will be able to maintain their growth and competitiveness,” Trade Assistant Secretary Rafaelita Aldaba said.

IFC country manager for the Philippines Jane Yuan Xu committed to help the BoI position the Philippines as a competitive location.

“We hope to work closely with BOI in improving policies that will promote investments and increase Philippines’ domestic value-added through strengthened local supplier linkages, as well as strengthening and upgrading investment promotion agencies’ workforce,” Xu said.

The BoI said the ‘FDI centricity’ of the MoU would help cascade the i3S forward by sharpening the focus on developing innovative and globally competitive industries strongly linked to domestic and global value chains.

“Since the i3S is designed to improve competition and innovation in the Philippine industry, the country will be able to capitalize on the opportunities due to rapid globalization and the dizzying development of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence,” Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said.

To increase FDIs among targeted sectors, the project intends to fully develop and implement a highly proactive investment promotion campaign repositioning the advantages of the electronics, automotive ( including electric vehicles) and aerospace sectors and a branding campaign positioning the Philippines as a competitive investment location.