Infrastructure and logistics is among the investment areas proposed for inclusion in the 2017 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), the government’s rolling three-year plan to provide incentives to major business activities or sectors that will be submitted to the Philippine President by yearend.
The 2017 IPP is geared to provide fiscal support to inclusive business (IB) projects beneficial to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and is to be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for approval by the end of the year.
Formulated using a participative, analytical, and multisectoral process, the IPP list is aligned with the President’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda and the comprehensive national industrial strategy.
Trade and Industry Secretary and Board of Investments (BOI) Chairman Ramon Lopez said the list should already be with the President before the end of this year, its submission considered a milestone undertaking for the agency.
Based on the sectoral consultations and meetings conducted, preferred activities for 2017 will likely include manufacturing, agribusiness, and services as major areas for investments, supported by research and development, technological innovations, infrastructure and logistics. Inclusive business projects and environment- or climate change-related projects are also suggested for inclusion.
“The inclusion of IB in the proposed 2017 IPP augurs well [for] the government’s thrust to reduce poverty, generate more jobs, and sustain inclusive growth,” Lopez said.
As early as March 2016, BOI has started reviewing the proposed IPP, where an IPP technical working group represented by all BOI services worked on the plan’s policy directions, priorities, and timelines.
Once cleared by the BOI Board, the draft IPP will be presented at eight multisectoral consultations in Metro Manila, La Union, Laguna, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro for comments and feedback from stakeholders. All input will be processed and submitted to the BOI Board for decision and finalization of the IPP list and for the subsequent endorsement by the Trade Secretary to the President.
The 2014-2016 IPP Plan included eight preferred activities, namely, manufacturing, agribusiness and fishery, services, economic and low-cost housing, hospitals, energy, public infrastructure and logistics, and public-private partnership projects.
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