Press Release
May 26, 2012

ANGARA: INCREASE INVESTMENT IN INFRA
AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEV'T FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

Senator Edgardo J. Angara underscored the need to further develop key areas in order to achieve national progress and economic development during the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Forum held yesterday in Makati

"There are glaring deficits in two critical elements in our country--infrastructure and human capital development. If we can step up in our local spending on these two areas, then perhaps our drive for faster development would be achieved," he said.

Angara, author of the REIT bill which was signed into law a few years ago, explained that the law had a twofold agenda:

"When we first drafted the REIT bill, we envisioned it to be - one, a powerful magnet to unlock the vast amount of money in investment rate real estate."

"And two, a channel to which we can let domestic investments flow into infrastructure initiatives which will help not only tourism but would also contribute towards the expansion and growth of the domestic economy," he explained.

The veteran legislator and former president of the Philippine National Bank also shared his confidence towards the gradual growth of the Philippine Economy.

"Investments are now slowly falling back to Asia. We are now in a good position to catch some of these incoming investments and steer those towards the industries that need a bit of a boost. Furthermore, the Philippines' deficit-GDP ratio has been lowered to such an extent that we are now better off than many of our neighbors in Southeast Asia," said Angara.

He remains optimistic, he says, because "now we have very able economic managers at the helm of country's finances. What we need now is a combined effort from our various financial institutions to ensure that our country does not repeat the mistake of underspending in these crucial areas."

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