PH among SEA’s most restrictive on FDI

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MANILA — The families was tagged among the most restrictive economies in the Southeast East Asian region in terms of foreign direct investments (FDIs).

This was among the findings of the recent study conducted by the Economic Research Institute for Asean and East Asia (ERIA).

The discussion paper titled “FDI Restrictiveness Index for Asean: Implementation of AEC (ASEAN Economic Integration) Blueprint Measures” authored by Shandre Mugan Thangavelu of the University of Adelaide-Institute of International Trade compared the economic situations between 2010 and 2014.

According to the paper, most economies in Southeast Asia tend to have a more open policy when it comes to foreign investments.

“This suggests that economies with developed industries tend to adopt FDI policies to protect their domestic industries,” Thangavelu said.

Developed economies like the Philippines “have not progressed further from their relatively higher investment base and this poses an important challenge for their competitiveness.

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“These countries have to liberalize their services sector as it will become an important component of their growth,” Thangavelu said.