Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Thursday said that the planned budget increase for local or foreign missions and state visits of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. in 2024 is "justified."
During a Palace briefing, Pangandaman said that there is a need to increase the budget for next year's domestic or overseas visits in order to increase the Marcos administration's attempts to promote the Philippines as an "investment hub.
The Office of the President is asking for a PHP 1,408,894,000 allocation for "local and foreign missions and state visits" in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) transmitted to Congress on Wednesday.
The projected budget was larger than the PHP 893.97 million included in the 2023 National Economic Plan, which was approved by Congress and included in the 2023 General Appropriations Act.
Pangandaman stated that Marcos and his economic team are traveling abroad to attract more investors to set up or grow their businesses in the Philippines.
So far, Marcos has traveled to 11 countries since taking office in June 2022. Among them are Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, Cambodia, Belgium, China, Switzerland, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia.
In order to attract more foreign investments, Marcos' economic managers are organizing investor roadshows in other countries.
The economic managers intend to hold briefings in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe in the first quarter of 2023, followed by briefings in the Philippines in the second half of the same year.
Daphne Osea-Paez, Malacanang Press Briefer, said Marcos' international excursions have so far shown excellent results, pointing out that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's recent visit to the Philippines was a result of Marcos' visit to Brussels in December 2022.
Marcos' recent trip to Malaysia has resulted in investment offers totaling USD 285 million.
On July 12, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual stated that around USD 88.4 million in investment commitments obtained during Marcos' prior international tours are expected to be realized in 2023.
