BOI: PH can produce high-value commodities

The Philippines has the capacity to produce high-value products that could help spur growth in the manufacturing sector, a trade official said on Tuesday.

During The Manila Time’s 8th Business Forum on Tuesday, Corazon Dichosa, executive director of the Board of Investments (BOI), said medium and high technology sectors in manufacturing recorded double digit growth last year.

Corazon Dichosa

These include non-metallic mineral products, which grew by 22 percent; furniture and fixtures (20 percent); petroleum and other fuel products (13 percent); transport equipment (12 percent); and radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus (12 percent).

“If you look at these sectors with double-digit growth, these are the medium and high tech sectors . These are the sectors that can provide high-quality income for Filipinos,” Dichosa said.

“That means we are capable of doing high-value products. If we have this capacity, we can actually develop these [sectors] and grow these more by a lot of government intervention with the help of the private sector,” she added.

To help spur growth in the manufacturing sector, Dichosa said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the BOI were currently implementing the new industrial policy known as Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3s).

The policy aims to grow innovative and globally competitive manufacturing, agriculture, and services while strengthening their linkages into domestic and global value chains.

Dichosa said the initiative was focused on five major pillars, namely new industries and clusters, human resource development, helping MSMEs, pushing for innovation and entrepreneurship, and promoting ease of doing business.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the manufacturing sector continues to be one of the main drivers of the economy, expanding by four percent as of the third quarter of the year.

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