MANILA - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is optimistic that Special Assistant for Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick Go will help the government in “realizing” investment deals it has secured.

“He has a vision of innovation, and Secretary Go will help us create an environment that will not just draw in investments but realize them, ushering in an era of unprecedented growth across industries,” Marcos said in a press briefing on Friday afternoon.

“Many of these investments are going to be fully in the private sector, they can be PPPs, they can be joint ventures, Maharlika Investment Fund might also be involved. So, his expertise lies exactly there in creating an environment that is interchangeable between government and the private sector so as to be able to make these investments real, to make them profitable, and to make them be felt in the everyday lives of ordinary Filipinos,” he added.

Go’s new position has a rank of a secretary.

Before this, he was chosen by Marcos to be his Presidential Adviser on Investment and Economic Affairs.

“I have long used his very sterling advice even before the election and his capabilities given that he has held positions in our country’s biggest corporations,” Marcos said.

“I trust that his fruitful years across many ventures have sharpened his acumen for the next big opportunity. He will be at the forefront when we take that leap towards economic growth,” he added.

For his part, Go enumerated his priorities under his new role.

“I think our goal to attract strategic investments into our country calls for number 1, improving the ease of doing business, second reducing friction costs and third finding solutions to the navigate the bureaucratic challenges that we face. We have to make a strong case to the world why they should invest here in the Philippines,” he said.

ECONOMIC GAINS, CHALLENGES

Marcos also boasted about the government achievements in terms of economic growth, having secured 5.9 percent in the third quarter of 2023 that “surpassed expectations” of “some of the doomsayers”.

“Inflation has retreated to within the BSP’s 2 to 4 percent target in December, providing much needed relief to our consumers,” he said.
“Joblessness has gone to its lowest level in 18 years, as economic expansion has harnessed the talents of the upskilled, the newly skilled, and the reskilled amongst our workforce,” he added.

Marcos also said that public debt and fiscal deficit and public debt “are waning to within our targets at a faster-than-expected pace”.

Marcos said his government continues to watch closely the “escalating geopolitical tensions that could dampen global trade, tighten global financing and trigger fuel and food shocks” that could affect inflation.

Another challenge for the administration, Marcos said, are the effects of El Nino which could extend even until the second quarter of the year.
“So, whatever harm it could cause, we have to cushion the impact with timely and targeted interventions so that food prices will not surge as a result of farm outputs falling short,” Marcos said.

“The dividends of economic growth must not just manifest in raised family incomes, but in the improvement in our infrastructure, in our healthcare systems, our educational systems. So, in these endeavors, we will depend upon the sound advice of our new Secretary of Investment and Economic Affairs in the person of Mr. Frederick D. Go,” he added.

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