Manufacturers ask government to oppose compromise in Nama talks 

By Max V. de Leon

DOMESTIC manufacturers are asking the government to oppose the low range of coefficient that is now being dangled to developing countries in the negotiations for non-agricultural market access (Nama) under the World Trade Organization (WTO) as they fear that this will expose the Philippines to deeper tariff cuts and result in the flooding of more imported products into the country.

Meneleo Carlos, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), said the government’s trade negotiating team in Geneva should seek a higher range of coefficient in determining the tariff cuts for the new bound rates that will be adopted for multilateral trade.

“The range of the coefficients that is now being negotiated is not appropriate for us. It is not enough and we should seek a higher range,” Carlos told the BusinessMirror.

Under the current trend of negotiations, the range of coefficient that is now being discussed is 19 to 24.

Based on the Swiss Formula, the new bound rate (the tariff rate agreed upon under the WTO system) will be arrived at by multiplying the coefficient with the present bound rate divided by the coefficient plus the present bound rate.

Taking for example the Philippines’ average industrial bound rate in 2007 which is 23 percent, the country’s new average bound rate will be 10 percent if the coefficient to be chosen is 19. If the coefficient is 24, the Philippines’ new average bound rate will be 20.

The WTO negotiations on Nama now also link the coefficient with the flexibility of developing countries to protect a certain percentage of their locally made products from cuts in the bound rates.

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Manufacturers ask government to oppose compromise in Nama talks

DOMESTIC manufacturers are asking the government to oppose the low range of coefficient that is now being dangled to developing countries in the negotiations for non-agricultural market access (Nama) under the World Trade Organization (WTO) as they fear that this will expose the Philippines to deeper tariff cuts and result in the flooding of more imported products into the country.

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