VP NOLI CHALLENGES RP MINING INDUSTRY TO BE GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE

September 16, 2009

VICE President Noli 'Kabayan' De Castro challenged both the government and the private sectors to ensure that the Philippine mining industry remains competitive as he cited the 'Doing Business Report' by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank (WB).

Speaking during the Mining Philippines 2009 in Pasay City yesterday (September 16), De Castro said he cited the report not to dampen the spirit of the industry's stakeholders but to push them into performing better.

"I am sharing you this information because I want to situate the Philippines in the context of the dynamic global economy, where every government competes for investors attention," De Castro said.

In said study the IFC and World Bank ranked the Philippines at 144 out of 183 economies in terms of 'ease of doing business'.

The same study showed the country placing 162 out of 183 in terms of 'starting a business' and 153 out of 183 in terms of 'closing a business'.

Out of the 287 reforms recorded in the 183 studied economies, the Philippines was cited for only one reform--the introduction of new insolvency rules that made it easier to reorganize firms.

"In other words, we are at the bottom third of the indices measured by the IFC and the World Bank. On the whole, our record is a cause for concern," De Castro said.

Nevertheless, De Castro said industries such as mining, can help improve the country's standing by examining the regulatory environment and eliminating the obstacles to competitiveness.

“There is a need to study processes step by step and identify the ones that are helping businesses and those that kill innovativeness,” he said.

"We have to move fast because there is much potential for the Philippine mining industry in the coming years," De Castro added.

De Castro noted that mining is now a major sunrise industry in the country. With an estimated 7 billion tons of metallic minerals and 51 billion tons of non-mettalic minerals waiting to be unearthed, downstream processing and manufacturing remains an area of immense potential.

“Despite the fact that the investment inflows fell below the $1 billion mark, owing to the impact of the global crisis, we remain confident that mining will become a $13 billion industry by 2013," he added.

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