Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III on Monday asked local businesses to invest heavily in digitalization and innovation to stay competitive as the world rapidly transitions into a post-pandemic global economy.
Dominguez said at a Department of Science and Technology event the country should evolve and take advantage of these fast-changing technological innovations so it could better respond and adapt to the demands and challenges of the new global economy.
“Technological innovations will build new industries and create many employment and investment opportunities. These will allow us to bounce back stronger from the pandemic and help ensure the long-term recovery of our economy,” Dominguez said in his keynote speech at the inauguration of the DOST’s Advanced Manufacturing Center in Bicutan, Taguig City.
Dominguez said the AMCen, which aims to be the technological hub and research center for additive manufacturing in the Philippines, would help transition the country’s manufacturing sector to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
A DOST initiative under Secretary Fortunato dela Peña, the AMCen is home to the Philippines’ first 3D printing research and development institution.
Dominguez said the new Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Law would help strengthen the culture of innovation and research and R&D in the country, as it offers not only a reduced corporate income tax rate for investors but also attractive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, such as a 100-percent additional deduction on R&D expenses.
CREATE lowered the corporate income tax from 30 to 20 percent for micro, small and medium enterprises and to 25 percent for all other businesses.
Meanwhile, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said the bank continued to promote the importance of digitalization in helping prepare Filipinos for the new economy.
“The future is digital, and it is here. We need to make sure that our constituents and the public that we serve are not left behind,” he said.
“Let us prepare them for the new economy and equip them with access to transformative digital financial services,” Diokno said.
According to the 2019 Financial Inclusion Survey, account ownership among Filipino adults rose to 29 percent in 2019 from 23 percent in 2017, translating into an additional five million Filipinos being financially included in the span of two years.
There was an increase in account ownership among the poorest, or the socio-economic class “E” segment—doubling to 27 percent in 2019 from 14 percent in 2017.
“This is a good indicator of this group’s readiness for digital finance,” Diokno said.
The BSP chief cited ways on how the public sector can prepare their constituents for the new economy and its transformative digital financial services.
These include adopting digital payments in social welfare programs and public services; seeking partnerships with and support from government agencies, civil society and the private sector, including financial service and technology providers; and advocating for digital and financial literacy efforts for their constituencies, he said.
