A United States embassy official said here Tuesday that Washington continues to be concerned on the limited status of medium and long term private investment in the Philippines.

Robert Ludan, embassy counselor for economic affairs, said the Philippines still has low level of long term investments in the private sector compared to other countries in the region.

"We continue to watch that very closely. That is one reason why we are very concerned on the business climate that drive position to investments," Ludan said in a press briefing.

The embassy official said that the government needs to invest more on infrastructure, education and health care.

He added that government debts, including the government owned and controlled corporations, are areas that should improve.

Meanwhile, Ludan declined to comment on the negative credit ratings given by U.S. firms. However, he said that the U.S. sees " some improvement over-all in the national government deficit."

On piracy, another senior U.S. trade official expressed concern on low rate of conviction of violators of Intellectual Property Rights. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said forms of piracy is evident in the streets and stores in Metro Manila.

"Domestic laws are being broken and they need to be punished," he added.

From the beginning of the year 2006, the Philippine peso kept stronger even before the government implemented a full expanded value-added tax rate of 12 percent on Feb. 1.

The Arroyo administration had hoped the leading U.S. consulting firms would lift its credit ratings on the country, but saw few improving remarks recently.

Source: Xinhua