The Philippines is counting on the world’s shift to green technology and demand induced by the COVID-19 pandemic for data centers to boost investments in its mining industry, a top official said.
The end of a ban on new mining permits also positions the sector to attract funds for a shift toward processing instead of simply exporting ores, said Philippine Industry Development and Trade Policy Group Undersecretary Perry Rodolfo, who is also managing head of the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI).
The BOI separately aims to win about 1 trillion pesos (US$19.1 billion) in investment commitments from home and abroad this year, up 50 percent from last year.
“The Philippines is blessed when it comes to very critical minerals that are needed by everyone as we shift towards a more digitalized and greener world,” Rodolfo said in an interview on Friday, commenting on the demand for nickel, copper and cobalt.
“The next key thing is to really make sure that they are processed here and we add value prior to exporting them,” he said.
The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s second-biggest producer of nickel. The aim is to locally process ore into “precursors” for a wide array of products, including batteries used to power data centers and electric vehicles.
The plan fits well with the government’s move to promote investments in hyperscaler data centers that use big batteries. Economic managers recently ordered that the 40 percent foreign equity restrictions on solar, wind and tidal renewable energy projects be removed.
Firms planning data centers “have to use renewable energy. Otherwise, they will just be competing with other sectors in the Philippines for power,” Rodolfo said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose six-year term ends on June 30, last week signed a strategic investment priority plan which lists activities such as environment and climate change-related projects eligible for tax incentives.
Rodolfo is optimistic that investors would continue coming in when Philippine president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr takes power.
“Each administration builds on the reform efforts of the past administration,” he said.
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