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MANILA - The Philippines needs "more clarity" in policies to lure foreign investors, more importantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Fitch Solutions analyst said Monday.

The country entered the pandemic with declining foreign direct investments from the previous year and uncertainty on corporate tax reform, Fitch Solutions senior country risk analyst Michael Langham told ANC.

"More clarity is needed for foreign investors to make this long term direct investments," Langham said.

"Just increasing more policy certainty at the moment. The COVID-19 situation has created enough uncertainty as it is, investors don’t need to see other tax and policy uncertainty on top of that," he added.

The Philippines should address the corporate income tax rate, seen as "less attractive" compared to its Asian peers, Langham said.

Pending in Congress is the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE), formerly known as CITIRA, which seeks to cut the corporate income tax rate to 25 percent from 30 percent as early as July.

• Corporate tax cut under CREATE seen to keep jobs at 'high levels'
• Business groups back revised corporate tax reform bill, say it will help small businesses
• Finance dept pushes 'recalibrated' corporate tax reform package as 'stimulus' for economy