Investment confidence growing

INVESTMENT confidence in the country continuous to grow under the Duterte administration, business leaders said.

Impressed by the 10-point socio-economic agenda by the economic team of President Rodrigo Duterte, the SM Investment Corp. (SMIC) has seen brighter prospects in the country especially in Visayas and Mindanao.

“Basically what is happening is he is creating a more conducive environment for business, so if we have that then we expect more investors to come,” Corazon P. Guidote, Senior Vice President for Investor Relations of SMIC said in a media roundtable discussion yesterday at Park Inn by Radisson.

She added that the good economic agenda of the present administration outweighs the negative issues thrown to Duterte’s leadership especially in its intensified war against drugs where Human Rights advocates raised concerns on the alleged extrajudicial killings.

“Yes, they are asking about the extrajudicial killings on the war on drugs but that do not affect the robust investment interest now, they are still

investing,” she said.

Tim Daniels, consultant for Investor Relations of SMIC, for his part, said they have been receiving a lot of inquiries from prospective investors.

“We are talking to a lot of prospective investor local and foreign, indeed we have a steady stream of investors now,” he said.

He said that the business community welcomes the comprehensive tax reform including the lowering of corporate tax and the push to ease of doing business.

Also, Guidote said that the fasttracking of the establishment of the Mindanao Railway system is a good and necessary move as it helps in transporting goods to anywhere of Mindanao faster.

“The MRS, it is very positive, right now to bring good from North to South area, the ways are only by roads or ships, we really need railway to move faster,” she said. ASP (For full story visit www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/)