High power cost drives away foreign investors

Published by rudy Date posted on August 2, 2011

(DTI) on Monday admitted that the high cost of electricity in the country gives foreign investors second thoughts about investing in the Philippines.

DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo said that despite low turnout of foreign investors in the country, the Philippines was able to compensate through exports.

But Domingo added that electronics, which represents half of the total exports of the country, went
down by 9.1 percent after the tsunami tragedy in Japan.

“Japan is our biggest client of electronics and the effects are felt after the Fukushima incident but other sectors like garments, coconut and agricultural products heavily contributed to wipe out losses,” he told reporters during the weekly forum Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel, saying that the Philippines managed to gain more than 20 percent in overall exports.

When asked on what the Trade department has done to address concerns of the foreign investors, Domingo said that they have talked to the Department of Energy about it and that DOE vowed to talk to power suppliers to lower their rates.

According to him, it is difficult to convince power producers to lower their rates because of high cost of fuel in the international market but, since it is rainy season in the Philippines, hydroelectric plants are working, in the process contributing to trimming down the cost of electricity.

Domingo said that they were cooking something that would bring down the cost of electricity and the effect could be felt in the next three years.

He did not elaborate.

Domingo said that they are selling to foreign investors some provinces, where they could invest to give residents there jobs.

“Creation of jobs is also one of our priorities and we are marketing these (provinces) to foreign investors to trim down the number of jobless in the country,’ he explained.

The selling game, Domingo said, can also entice people to go back to their provinces, knowing that jobs are available and that they can work while living with their families.

This game, he added, gives Metro Manila a breather from the huge number of job-seekers from the provinces. –Sammy Martin, Reporter, Manila Times

July 2025

Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.

Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar.  Reject Military!

#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

July


3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 Ju
ly – International Plastic Bag Free Day
 
5 July –
World Youth Skills Day 
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day 
17 July – World Day for
International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons 


Monthly Observances:

Schools Safety Month

Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month

Weekly Observances:

Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week

 

Daily Observances:

First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines

Categories

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.