Philippine automotive industry set to receive USD600 million in funding

The Philippine government is facing increasing pressure from global automakers to release the keenly anticipated automotive road map.

The Philippine automotive industry is expected to receive as much as USD600 million in funding, reports local publication the Manila Bulletin, citing cabinet secretary Jose Rene Almendras. "We have set a big amount of USD600 million – maybe more, maybe less – but we are making sure that the impact is not just one year or two but that the industry will grow. We make sure that what we are planting will become a big tree, not a small bush," Almendras was quoted as saying. The automotive fund is part of a wider road map for the industry, which is currently "under review", and therefore nothing is confirmed at time of writing. Commenting on the delay in the release of the road map, Almendras said, "The auto industry cannot be seen as just a now intervention, we have to make sure that whatever programme we have, it will have short term, medium and long term benefits. The end game why we have the automotive industry program is jobs generation. I am sure we can do it [release the road map] this year as we just have to do some fine-tunings." The fund is expected to be allocated under the General Appropriations Act and will act as a "support measure to investors" (OEMs in this case), although there are currently no further details about the nature of incentives being planned.