US investments sa Pinas papalo sa $763-M ngayong 2023

PAPALO sa  $763.74 million  ang magiging  investment ng Estados Unidos ngayong 2023 sa oras na maisakatuparan ang Marcos trip pledges.

Kapag nangyari ito, nakikita na tatlong beses ang itinaas ng investment noong nakaraang taon.

“If the pledges generated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his last visit to the country come to fruition,” ayon kay DTI Undersecretary for Communications Kim Bernardo-Lokin sa isang panayam.

Sa ulat, nagtapos na kamakailan ang six-day official visit sa Estados Unidos ni Pangulong Marcos  kung saan siya nagpartisipa para sa  30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting. Umani ang Pangulo ng investment commitments na nagkakahalaga ng mahigit sa  $672 million.

“This year, from January to August, we had seen $91.74 million in US investments. The trip of the president for this APEC had generated about $672 million as had been announced,”  ayon kay Bernardo-Lokin.

“That’s a total of $763.74 million,” aniya pa rin sabay sabing “That’s three times what we saw last year.”

Tinuran pa ni Bernardo-Lokin na ang pagdagsa ng US investment sa Pilipinas noong nakaraang taon ay  umabot sa $250.39 million.

At nang tanungin kung kailan maaaring makitang maisasakatuparan ang mga ‘pledges’ na ito sa aktuwal na  direct investments, sinabi ni Bernardo-Lokin na ilan sa mga pangakong investment projects ay magsisimula sa 2024.

“The best way to put it is in terms of internet connection,” aniya pa rin sabay sabing  “When you talk about connectivity, one of the first things the president and DTI Sec. [Alfredo] Pascual witnessed was for the agreement for the deployment of the first two internet micro-geo satellites.”

“Why do I raise this? Because these first two internet micro-geo satellites, the first one will be deployed by next year, that will be around the last quarter of 2024,” lahad pa rin ni Bernardo-Lokin.

Binanggit naman ni Bernardo-Lokin  na isa sa mga pledges ay ang paglikha ng US manufacturing facility sa Pilipinas. Sa katunayan ay nagsimula na ang pre-feasibility studies ukol dito.

Samantala, inilahad naman ni  Frank Thiel, pangulo ng  American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, na inaasahan ng organisasyon ang malaking US trade mission sa  March 2024, pangungunahan ni US President Joe Biden.

“It will be high-level executives, different industries will be looking to see if they can invest in the Philippines…”  ayon kay Thiel  sabay sabing  “President Biden is actually directing the trade mission. He’s going to be supporting, organizing, that’s what we have been led to understand.” (Daris Jose)