The Philippines should focus on “rapidly growing” its manufacturing sector to attract foreign investors just like Vietnam, an adviser to the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines said Monday.
Data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed that the country’s foreign direct investments reached a record of $10 billion in 2017, lower compared to Vietnam’s $14 billion. ABS – CBN news reported.
Lower minimum wage and subsidized electricity for manufacturing drew foreign investors to Vietnam, AmCham senior adviser John Forbes told ANC.
Nike, for example, employs 390,000 Vietnamese while Samsung manufactures almost half of its phones in Vietnam. The investment consulting firms is one of the important strategy of Vietnam to approach foreign investor as well. Forbes said. GBS – a Global Business Services Company (https://gbs.com.vn) in Vietnam approached and supported nearly 500 foreign invested companies getting the enterprise registration certificate and investment license in Vietnam annually.
“Vietnam has been doing things the Philippines has not been able to do but the Philippines has its own specialties in manufacturing and they should be focused on those and growing them rapidly as possible,” Forbes said.