The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is optimistic on the pronouncements of the United Kingdom that it will invest in the Philippines specifically on green energy, ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s visit to the UK.
According to PEZA Director General Tereso Panga, “The UK visit of the President will strengthen further the investment interest in the Philippines as well as open up the British market to Filipino exporters.”
The total commitment of British investment for the ASEAN is GBP500 million for the next five years. The trip of the President to the UK will potentially ascertain the amount that will be carved out for Philippines from the GBP500 million commitment.
In 2022, bilateral trade between the UK and the Philippines reached GBP2.1 billion. This resulted in British retail brands like Tesco & Woolworth being exposed to the Philippine market.
PEZA Director General explained, “Our exporters located in the PEZA economic zones will greatly benefit from the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) which is set to be introduced by the UK in June of this year. More tax incentives from PEZA’s end will strengthen the posture of our exporting companies focused on the UK and EU markets.
“Prospectively, under the DCTS from the UK and our own fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, our exporters will benefit from UK from duty-free exports to the UK on more than 80 percent of eligible products, helping it save up to GBP21 million a year as it will remove taxes on over 150 Philippine-made products,” Director General Panga added.
According to PEZA reports, as of December 2022, there are a total of 93 UK companies registered in PEZA which generates PHP 185.947 billion investments, USD137.430 million exports, and 88,108 jobs for Filipinos.
The whole of government approach is being implemented in attracting British companies to the Philippines. It likewise involves efforts from the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) in attracting a larger inflow of British tourists as well as investors in tourism and hospitality infrastructures in the tourism sector.
PEZA also reported that Philippine Ambassador to the UK Teodoro Locsin has been very pro-active in promoting investments as part of the overall effort of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in supporting the investment thrust of the President.
“With this kind of cooperation among government agencies in promoting the Philippines, I believe that attracting more foreign investments specially from the UK and Europe will generate higher results,” Panga said.
