NEWS

By Angela Celis

Keppel Corp., a Singapore-based multi-business company which operates shipyards in the Philippines, is exploring opportunities to expand its investments in the country, according to a statement released by the Department of Finance (DOF) yesterday.

The DOF cited Loh Chin Hua, Keppel’s chief executive officer who is also co-chairman of the Philippines-Singapore Business Council, as saying the company is now looking at ways on how it can broaden its investments in the Philippines, especially with the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure modernization program in full swing.

According to the DOF, Loh also noted that among the advantages of doing business in the Philippines is that investors can borrow in the local currency, thus reducing risks and enabling them to get reasonable returns.

“And that is quite a remarkable achievement because not many countries in this region can say that. And when you have to invest abroad but you have to borrow in their currencies, it always increases the risks,” Loh said.

“For Keppel, we have operated two shipyards in the Philippines, and we are now looking to see how we can do more here,” he added.

Loh was part of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) delegation which met with Carlos Dominguez, DOF secretary, and other finance officials earlier this month.

During the meeting with the Singapore business delegation, Dominguez elaborated the goal of further reforming the corporate tax system by lowering the corporate income tax and rationalizing fiscal incentives by making them performance-based, timebound, targeted and transparent (PTTT).

He also made it clear during the meeting that the Philippines is not eliminating investment incentives, but just wants these to be more like what they offer in Singapore, which adheres to the PTTT principle.

For instance, Dominguez said Keppel should continue doing business here, but can evolve from ship fabrication to bringing here its design capabilities, which is eligible for incentives under the proposed Corporate Income Tax Incentives Reform Act.

“So that is what we are willing to give incentives to. We are willing to give incentives to engineering companies, we are willing to give incentives to companies for large data analysis, robotics,” Dominguez said.

Expressing his support for the PTTT principle, Teo Siong Seng, SBF chairman, said: “This is welcome news. While many Singapore companies have established operations in the Philippines in industries such as manufacturing and infrastructure, there are untapped opportunities in areas such as information technology and digital solutions, which our companies with the capabilities will be able to take up.”

Teo added the economic and social progress the Philippines has made thus far makes for an attractive and compelling case for Singapore investors.

According to the SBF’s recent National Business Survey, the Philippines was among the top 10 markets of interest for Singaporean companies looking to expand their business.

Teo said Singapore was the second largest investor in the Philippines in 2018, and the Philippines’ largest export market among the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

“Asean remains a bright spot in a cloudy global economy and has abundant opportunities and potential for growth. Singapore and the Philippines have always enjoyed close economic ties,” Teo said.

“As we celebrate 50 years of bilateral relations with the Philippines, we look forward to more great years ahead of getting our business communities to collaborate more closely so we can ride the Asean growth story together,” he added.

Source: Malaya