Drug war ‘not good for business,’ Nordic business leader says

September 5, 2016 at 16:45

THE government’s war on the illegal drug trade is “not good for business,” the president of the Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (NorCham) said, expressing both optimism and dismay over a “promising” ten point economic agenda but with the rising pile of dead drug suspects in the background.

“And the news that we see now could be a deterrent. From our perspective, we see it really as a threat for foreign investment in the Philippines also from the countries we represent.”

Over 900 drug suspects have been killed in the first two months of the administration’s campaign against illegal drug trade, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director-General Ronald M. dela Rosa during a budget briefing of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the House of Representatives.

When asked if there were specific companies that expressed their reservations over the rising body count of drug suspects, he said: “At this point, no, I don’t think we could say that we have experienced anyone specifically say we will not go to the Philippines because of this. But what I can say is that it’s an ongoing conversation both between Nordic companies present in the Philippines and as well as our counterparts outside the Philippines.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by the President of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) earlier in August.

ECCP President Guenter Taus said that there is a general sense of hesitation in the part of European investors due to the spate of suspected extrajudicial killings in the course of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s campaign against illegal drug trade.

Nordic countries score high in different international business measurements.

The group of countries, with the exception of Iceland, place in the top ten in World Bank’s Doing Business rankings, and in the top 20 of the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum.

Moreover, in the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International, these countries rank in the top five for having the cleanest public sectors in the world.

Apart from concerns in the suspected extrajudicial killings, Mr. Lundqvist noted that the economic agenda of the administration is “business friendly,” especially the plan to relax the constitutional relaxations on ownership.

Joona Selin, Executive Director of NorCham, said that they expect their trade exports to the Philippines to double within the term of the current administration, citing the country’s economic performance, among other things, behind the outlook.

“Currently we’re sitting at a half a billion euro in terms of trade with the Philippines. And the trade balance is slightly favorable for the Nordic export to the Philippines,” he said.

Exports from Nordic countries, according to Mr. Selin, are in the line of renewable energy, industrial equipment, and information and communications technology. He also cited household names from their region such as Nokia Corp.

In terms of investments in the country, Mr. Selin said that is somewhere below $5 billion.