PH agriculture grows 2.1% in Q1, PSA says Economist sees sustained increase in FDIs to PH

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) to the Philippines is expected to further rise with the reopening of the economy and investment commitments secured from various trips overseas of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., according to an economist.

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed that FDIs posted net inflows of PHP1.05 billion in February 2023, up by 13 percent from the USD926 million in the same period last year.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said the latest net FDI level is among the highest since the pandemic started.

“For the coming months, net FDIs could pick up further amid measures to further reopen the economy with no more restrictions as a policy priority, the Philippine economic/GDP (gross domestic product) growth expected to be among the fastest in the region, the country’s attractive demographics, economic reopening of China (which is the world’s second biggest economy) since December 2022, and investment commitments obtained by the administration from overseas visits/trips in recent months,” he said.

The total value of production in agriculture and fisheries sector grew by 2.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.

Ricafort said the inclusion of the Philippines in the world’s biggest free trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), “would help attract more FDIs to locate in the country as a production and/or marketing base, as well as an access point to bigger export markets of the other RCEP member countries in the region and in other parts of the world.”

“Furthermore, the passage of reform measures in recent months/ years, especially the CREATE (Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act) law that reduces the corporate income tax by at least 5 percentage points (from 30 percent) retroactive July 2020 and providing greater certainty on investments would also continue to help attract more FDIs to be more decisive and locate in the country,” he said.

Ricafort said reforms and amendments on foreign ownership limits, such as those under the Public Services Act, Foreign Investments Act and Retail Trade Liberalization Act, “would all further encourage and attract more FDIs into the country.”

The PSA said at constant 2018 prices, the value of production amounted to PHP428.69 billion, up from last year’s PHP419.96 billion.

“This was due to the annual increases in the value of production of crops, livestock, poultry, and fisheries,” PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa said.

Value of crops which reached

PHP247.76 billion, an increase of 1.7 percent from the PHP243.65 billion a year ago.

The total value of livestock production also expanded by 4.1 percent to PHP61.65 billion from PHP59.21 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

Value of poultry production which amounted to PHP64.94 billion, went up by 3.2 percent from the previous year’s PHP62.96 bil- lion, while fisheries production slightly rose to PHP54.32 billion from PHP54.14 billion.

In terms of volume, the PSA said both palay and corn production expanded by 5.2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Hog and cattle production also grew by 5.1 percent and 1.9 percent.

Decreases, however, were seen in the production of carabao (-1.2 percent), goat (-3.6 percent), and dairy (-11.4 percent).

The PSA said chicken production grew by 3.3 percent, chicken eggs by 2.8 percent, and duck eggs by 3.8 percent.