THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it is set to launch the Philippine Exports Development Plan (PEDP) 2023-2028 on June 15,2023.
Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the PEDP will be formally launched on June 15 but “I hope we discuss it with the President earlier.”
The Trade chief unveiled some of the features of the Plan, saying “it will identify gaps both on the demand side and supply side and [the] solutions.”
“Essentially, what the Export Development Plan has done is to identify the promising sectors or industry clusters that can generate significant increases in exports to the Philippines,” Pascual told reporters on the sidelines of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) media briefing in Makati City on Friday.
Pascual cited the industry clusters which he said are “export-oriented”: the Industrial, Manufacturing, Transport (IMT) cluster; Technology, Media, and Telecommunication (TMT) cluster; and the Health and Life Science (HLS) cluster.
He underscored the need to grow these industries as these are the ones, apart from the country’s agricultural output, that generate exports for the country.
Meanwhile, the Trade chief said the DTI is expected to increase or adjust its exports target if there is a “dramatic shift” globally.
“These clusters were identified on the basis of a reconfiguration of the global value chains arising from the impact of the pandemic, the geopolitical developments, recent geopolitical developments—factors like that,” Pascual said, partly in Filipino.
For instance, he cited the United States’s move to diversify sources of their imports especially for electronics and semiconductors. Pascual said the Philippines aims to gain from this move, saying “We want to grab that opportunity.”
With such global developments, Pascual said achieving a higher export target rests on the Philippines’s ability to attract international companies as these firms will develop the country’s capability in these sectors.
“Of course [there are] Philippine companies, for instance, aerospace, who are the players? Lufthansa Teknik. For aircraft exterior, Boeing. Those are the big ones with access to the global value chain,” the Trade chief noted.
Republic Act 7844 series of 2004 mandates DTI to craft the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP). In 2022, the Export Development Council (EDC) lowered its target to US$105.3 billion from its initial target of $122 billion-$130 billion.
In September 2022, DTI said it is targeting to raise earnings from the exports of goods and services to $110 billion for 2023 despite a 10-percent cut in its budget.
At the budget plenary debate at the House of Representatives in September 2022, Pangasinan 4th District Rep. Christopher V.P. De Venecia, speaking as sponsor of the DTI, said “In terms of exports, the DTI hopes to increase the current amount to about $110 billion.”
This, despite the agency’s budget being slashed by P2.4 billion or 10 percent lower than the previous budget.
In November 2022, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said the next Philippine Export Development Plan will be “more aggressive” to combat issues such as rising business costs and supply chain disruptions.
The launch of the PEDP for 2023-2028 was initially set in December 2022. However, Ortiz-Luis said the DTI was still reviewing it. After the review is completed, he said the Export Development Council will give its final approval.
