A DELEGATION from the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund, met Philippine officials here on Friday to discuss investment opportunities, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said in a statement.
The QIA delegation was headed by Sheikh Abdulaziz Ali Al Thani, Head of Business Development.
Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno led the Philippine side, along with Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Alan L. Timbayan, and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President and Chief Executive Officer Vivencio B. Dizon.
Also represented were the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Department of Finance (DoF), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Al Amanah Islamic Bank, Department of Transportation (DoTr), Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, and the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).
Mr. Diokno, in the statement, said: “[I]nfrastructure spending has constantly fallen below the suggested threshold of 5% of GDP (gross domestic product) for developing countries,” he said.
“In fact, government estimates show that it only averaged 2.6% over the past 50 years. In contrast, the Duterte administration aims to target at least 5% of GDP for infrastructure spending rising up to more than 7% of GDP,” he added.
The government plans to spend P8 to P9 trillion until 2022.
As of October, government expenditures rose 10% year on year to P2.241 trillion. This is equivalent to 77.04% of the P2.909 trillion disbursement program for the year.
“Clearly, we walk the talk and put our money where our mouths are,” Mr. Diokno said.
In 2016, Qatar ranked as the Philippines’ 32nd trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $241 million.
The Middle East remains the country’s second-largest source of remittances from overseas Filipinos, accounting for 28% of the total or almost $7.6 billion in 2016.
It also hosts more than one million overseas Filipino workers. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
