SLOWER global economic growth has made it more difficult for the Philippines to hit its target of increasing merchandise exports by 3 percent this year, according to the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport).
Philexport President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said Philippine exporters would end the year with lower earnings, despite the weakening of the peso, which is considered a boon for export sectors. “The decrease in goods trade has been too negative, it could end up negative by the end of the year,” Ortiz-Luis said on the sidelines of a forum organized by the Bank of China.
Including the export of services, the Philexport chief said overall exports growth in 2016 would still be flat. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that export receipts in September reached $5.21 billion, a 5.1-percent increase from $4.96 billion recorded a year ago.
This, however, was not enough to pull up export revenues in January to September. Receipts from shipments of Philippine-made goods declined by 6.2 percent year-on-year in terms of value during the period.
September’s exports data represented the first time in over a year that earnings recorded an increase, as sluggish global trade caused revenues to decline on a monthly basis.
The US and European countries are some of the major buyers of locally made goods. The slump in global demand for traditional exports, such as electronics, resulted in lower export receipts this year.
Ortiz-Luis said not even the weakening of the peso, which breached the P50 level last week, could drive growth in the exports sector. A weak peso is generally good for the business-process outsourcing sector and overseas Filipino workers.
More investments
Despite the stagnation in global economy, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said it is optimistic that the country will end the year with more investment pledges.
Peza Director General Charito B. Plaza said the increase in investment pledges will be boosted by President Duterte’s approval for the set up of an additional 29 economic zones.
“We’ll have around P 200 billion plus once the 29 new ecozones will have their presidential proclamation signed by President Duterte,” Plaza said.
Peza said it is targeting to develop three types of industrial zones in the next six years: defense industrial complexes, agro-forestry and aqua-marine zones, and low-carbon and energy efficient zones.
The agency also intends to remove locational restrictions on tourism economic zones.
While Plaza declined to name big-ticket projects that would boost investment pledges, she said earlier Peza is keen on attracting more investments from the Middle East.
According to Peza data, registered investments have amounted to P107 billion in October. This, however, is 10 percent lower than the P174 billion recorded in the same period last year.