The Philippines will work to boost investments in its mining sector by leveraging the global shift to green technologies and the increased demand for data centers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reported, citing a government official.

Philippine Trade Undersecretary Perry Rodolfo, who also leads the country's Board of Investments, or BOI, said the end of a ban on new mining permits may also attract funds for processing minerals instead of just exporting mineral-bearing ore, according to the report.

The BOI is also targeting domestic and international investment commitments for 2022 totaling approximately 1 trillion pesos, or $20 billion, the undersecretary said in the report.

The Philippines aims to process ore locally into precursor materials for a wide range of products, including the batteries used to power electric vehicles and data centers, Rodolfo said.

President Rodrigo Duterte recently approved a 2022 strategic investment priority plan that lists activities such as environment- and climate-change-related projects as eligible for tax incentives.

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