ECCP welcomes RCEP ratification

The ECCP welcomes the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement. "The ECCP welcomes the ratification of RCEP as this poses significant opportunities in terms of export markets, investments, and jobs for Filipinos," it said in a statement. Over the years, ECCP has also developed ties with all three branches of government and has been deeply involved in various advocacies to promote a more competitive environment for European-Philippine trade and investments.

PH, EU eye closer ties

Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual underscored the Philippine-European Union economic relations by emphasizing the importance of EU-GSP+ (European Union-Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus). "We just highlighted that the EU is one of the major trading partners of the Philippines as well as a major source of foreign direct investments," Pascual said. Previously, Pascual and the ECCP showed optimism on the free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Agreement "as a key partner in lobbying for the Philippines' retention of the EU-GSP+ beyond 2023," Pascual added. He reaffirmed "we are dedicated to directly engaging the EU's core institutions — the European Commission, European Council and members of the European Parliament — to ensure our GSP+ status and to reapply in the next GSP scheme."

PHL still on FATF’s ‘gray list’

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) kept the Philippines on its “gray list” of jurisdictions subjected to increased monitoring for “dirty money” risks, urging the country to address deficiencies “as soon as possible.” The FATF said the Philippines should continue addressing its strategic deficiencies in combatting money laundering. The Philippines had made a high-level political commitment to strengthen its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) initiatives in June 2021.

PH gears up for surge in investments

The government is gearing up for the entry of billions of dollars worth of foreign direct investments (FDIs). Starting off with the issuance on February 23 of Executive Order (EO) No. 18 which creates green lanes that would facilitate strategic projects, the government is poised to address labor-skills mismatch, high energy costs and demand for industrial sites like economic zones. PCO said data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Investment and Economic Affairs, said included in the investments $29.712 billion (P1.7 trillion) that are in the form of Memoranda of Understanding and Letters of Intent while $28.863 billion (P1.5 trillion) are in the planning stages. PCO said the government is also focused on ensuring the availability of affordable and stable energy supply that could sustain manufacturing industries.

NEDA eyes 3,700 projects worth P15T

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is finalizing a list of 3,700 priority infrastructure projects worth P15 trillion that will be submitted to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. for approval. “This week, the NEDA Board is meeting to finalize the list we recommend to the President. That list is a big number of projects, tentatively, 3,700 projects worth P15 trillion,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said. The list will be presented to Mr. Marcos on March 9 for his approval. Nearly half or 45 of the PPP projects are related to transport, while 14 are road projects, and 11 involve property development. Other PPP projects include water and sanitation (8), health (6), information and communications technology (5), tourism (3), solid waste management (3), and energy (3).

PEZA approves P3.8-B investments in February

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) approved P3.8 billion worth of investments in February, more than double the investments approved a year ago. PEZA Officer-in-Charge Tereso O. Panga said the board had given the green light for 12 new and expansion projects worth P3.8 billion during its Feb. 23 meeting. This is 112% higher than the P1.792-billion approved investments in February 2022. “Among the approved projects, five of these are for export manufacturing, three for facilities, one for information technology, one for logistics, one for utilities, and one expansion for a manufacturing ecozone,” he said in a statement.

House panel Oks hybrid Con-con

Voting 17-2, the committee on constitutional amendments of the House of Representatives approved yesterday a substitute bill that will consolidate four measures introducing Charter amendments and pave the way for a constitutional convention. The substitute bill that the panel headed by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez endorsed would implement Resolution of Both Houses 6 of the Congress of the Philippines, calling for a Con-con to propose amendments to, or revision of, the 1987 Constitution.

25-bp hike ‘most likely’ in March — BSP chief

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will likely hike the benchmark rate again next month, with its governor eyeing a smaller 25-basis-point (bp) move amid signs of slower inflation in February “We’re actually looking at the month-on-month (inflation), but the most likely scenario is maybe one more hike,” BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said. He added that a 25-bp hike is the “most likely” option at the March 23 meeting, due to a “great possibility” that inflation has already peaked in January as non-monetary measures are starting to dampen price increases.

House leader wants Cha-cha pitch backed by hard economic data

If taxpayers have to cough up around P28 billion for the proposed Charter change, Congress should have at hand solid data from economic managers, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan yesterday said. Libanan said the government’s budget and economic planners should do a cost-benefit analysis of relaxing foreign investment restrictions if they want to convince critics to take into consideration moves to amend the 1987 Constitution.

Gov’t sets interventions for rice, coconut sectors

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a memorandum order (MO) for rice processing centers (RPCs) to improve efficiency in post-production system while the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) has allotted P500 million for shared processing facilities (SPFs) for coconut farmer cooperatives in the next 12 months. Under MO 17 series of 2023 signed by DA Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban, existing DA-funded RPCs will be upgraded to include a new warehouse and machinery. Since 2012, numerous RPCs have been established to address the drying and milling deficiencies in the country but some  were not optimized due to weak planning, implementation, operation and maintenance.

Strategies sought to tackle power supply issues

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has asked policy makers to immediately explore demand side management strategies to mitigate any possible power supply issues this summer. NGCP in a statement said power supply during the summer months could be thin due to higher electricity demand. The company cited forecasts of the Department of Energy (DOE) which indicated total peak demand of 13,125 megawatts (MW) for Luzon could occur towards the end of May, an 8.35 percent increase from the actual 2022 peak load of 12,113MW which occurred in May 12, 2022. NGCP said  the DOE sees Visayas to have a 16.19 percent increase in peak demand this year at 2,691 MW from last year’s actual peak of 2,316 MW recorded in September. NGCP said the DOE sees Mindanao  to have a 10.52-percent increase in peak demand at 2,395 MW from last year’s peak of 2,167 MW logged in June.

PH needs transport infrastructure law, says think tank

A law on a long-term national transport infrastructure plan is needed to address the country’s inadequate transportation system without rehashing “old, insufficient quick fixes,” according to Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). In a study penned by PIDS senior research fellow Adoracion Navarro and research analyst Jokkaz Latigar, the state-run think tank said planning long-term can help address persistent infrastructure problems. Titled “Road and Rail Transport Infrastructure in the Philippines: Current State, Issues, and Challenges,” the study analyzed the quantity and quality of the country’s road and rail transport infrastructure and its interlinked stages of planning, programming, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.

Gov’t intensifies follow-up to multibillion investment pledges

The national government is intensifying its efforts to follow-up on investment pledges, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). According to the DTI, this is in accordance with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s order to ensure that other countries who committed to investing in the Philippines will push through with their plans. Citing a report both from the DTI and the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Investment and Economic Affairs, Pascual said the government has $4.349 billion or P239 billion worth of secured investment projects that are now undergoing the implementation stage. He added that the government currently has $29.712 billion or P1.7 trillion secured investment pledges in the form of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) and Letters of Intent (LOI). Further, Pascual said Marcos was able to secure a total of P3.48 trillion or approximately $62.926 billion from his trip to China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the United States and Belgium.

Investors to calibrate next move based on fresh economic signals

Investors are expected to take cues from a fresh set of macroeconomic data this week as they gauge whether they will hold on to their positions or sell some of their holdings. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) dropped by 0.20 percent, or 13.33 points, to close at 6,685.90 while the wider All Shares index slipped by 0.20 percent, or 7.16 points, to end at 3,572.20. Claire Alviar, Philstocks Financial Inc. assistant manager for research and online engagement, said the PSEi drop came after minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s last meeting were revealed. “According to the minutes, the Fed is more likely to raise interest rates to manage the elevated inflation in the US,” she said. Trading at the local bourse was cut short by a day last week after Malacañang declared on the evening of Feb. 23 that Friday was a holiday to commemorate the anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, which is usually observed every Feb. 25.

DA sets upgrade of rice processing facilities to cut postharvest losses

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is aiming to reduce postharvest losses in rice by improving processing centers across the country. The agency has revised the guidelines governing rice processing centers, designed to improve the efficiency of rice production by reducing postharvest losses, improving the quality of milled rice, enhancing distribution and marketing system and maximizing the utilization of rice by-products. It will cover the following: upgrade of existing rice processing facilities including the construction of a new warehouse and provision of machinery, establishment of such facilities and the support complementing the rice processing system funded by the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. The DA said it aimed to give farmers access to a palay drying facility especially during inclement weather conditions. This will preserve the quality of harvested paddy and help attain at least 65-percent milling recovery and the production of high-grade quality milled rice.

PHL preparing for surge in FDI with skills upgrade initiatives

The Palace said the expected surge in investment will be met with programs to upskill the workforce. “The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) is preparing for the entry of more foreign investors, particularly by ensuring that the Philippines has a pool of well-educated and highly-skilled workers,” the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement. The DoLE is focusing on narrowing the gap between worker skills and employer needs, the Palace said, citing Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma. Mr. Laguesma said upskilling workers must be industry-led and market-driven “so that workers can find employment that suits their skills.” Skills mismatch issues can be addressed via targeted job fairs, “with the DoLE focusing on knowing the requirements of every industry to effectively address them,” the Palace said.

Amendments to BOT law pushed

The Build-Operate-Transfer law still needs to be amended, despite its implementing rules having been recently revised, to better enable the government to push public-private partnership projects (PPPs) for its infrastructure program, according to Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic and Development Authority. Balisacan said the recent updating and improvement of the implementing rules of the current BOT law — done to make investing in projects more attractive to the private sector while ensuring that these meet the interest of the public sector — was not enough to enable PPPs to flourish.

Green lanes to help realize investment pledges from PBBM’s trips

The country’s major investment promotion agencies (IPAs), the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) have welcomed the issuance of the Executive Order (EO) No. 18 or the creation of green lanes for strategic investments. In a statement Monday, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary and BOI chairperson Alfredo Pascual said the green lanes for strategic investments will facilitate ease of doing business and will increase the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination. "This EO complements our efforts to facilitate a robust economic recovery and expansion. It promotes ease of doing business as national government agencies including its regional and provincial offices, as well as local government units are now mandated to create green lanes that will fast-track the process of securing necessary licenses and permits for strategic investments,” he said. It was Pascual and the DTI-BOI that recommended the creation of green lanes to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last October that will help the administration to realize the investment pledges from the Chief Executive’s foreign trips.

DA invests in next agri-fishery generation for food security

The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Friday assured investments in the next agri-fishery generation as it supports the agribusiness ventures of young Filipinos. In a statement, the DA said it assisted almost 3,000 youths, fortifying its actions to achieve the administration’s food security agenda. “At least 2,955 young Filipinos have availed of the assistance and support for their agribusiness proposals under the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Youth Farmers’ Challenge (YFC) in line with the Marcos administration’s food security agenda,” it said.

Incentives for local pharma, health-care sectors urged

The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) has urged the government to put in place an incentives system specific to the local industry, as well as improve the ease of doing business in the country to entice more investors in this sector. “We have to learn from our neighboring countries what are the best practices, what makes it easy, how easy it is for us to set up a business, how the government is also incentivizing, building manufacturing sites in the Philippines,” PHAP president Diana Edralin told reporters in a recent interview.

BSP targets to reduce RRR to 10%

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will likely cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) to 10% to encourage them to cut transaction fees on small-value digital payments, its governor said. “We hope, in return, the banks will waive all fees on small transactions when people make bank-to-bank payments. We’re literally bribing the banks to subsidize the small transactions,” BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla told an economic briefing on Monday. He said small-value transactions could include digital transfers of as much as P500. He earlier noted that a P15 fee for a P200 transaction “is quite large relative to the amount being sent.”

Manila needs to show better enforcement to exit FATF ‘gray list’

The Philippines will need to improve law enforcement against money laundering and terrorism financing if it wants to exit the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “gray list” by January 2024, the central bank governor said. We hope we are able to satisfy them with just better enforcement,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe M. Medalla told reporters on the sidelines of an economic briefing hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Hopefully (the Philippines) will be out (of the list by January 2024). But of course, there’s a possibility that it will take longer to get out. Some countries took four years to get out and they had to do a lot,” he said. The Paris-based FATF has kept the Philippines on its gray list of jurisdictions subjected to increased monitoring for “dirty money” risks since June 2021. To be removed from the list, the Philippines has committed to comply with 18 action plan items. Progress reports are submitted to the FATF in three reporting cycles in a year — January, May and September.

Debt-to-GDP ratio seen to ease after 2024 — PIDS 

The Philippines’ outstanding debt as a share of the gross domestic product (GDP) will remain high in the medium term, easing only after 2024, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) researchers said. “Projections show that the debt ratio will decline after 2024 if there are no policy reversals or structural breaks and no new substantial debt,” PIDS researchers said in a study titled “Fiscal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Philippine debt sustainability.” The PIDS study showed the debt-to-GDP ratio might peak at 66.8% this year until 2024, before easing to 66.4% in 2025, 66% in 2026 and 65.7% in 2027. “So long as the National Government does not acquire substantial new debt, it will gradually decline over the succeeding years as the GDP growth rate increases. If these hold true, the baseline scenario shows that the level of debt is still manageable and sustainable,” PIDS added.

LNG seen as medium-term solution at best for power supply problem

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals are only a short to medium-term solution for fueling the power industry, undertaken because the Philippines had “no choice” due to the depletion of the Malampaya gas field, a senior Senator said. In a statement, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, vice-chairman of the Senate’s energy committee, added: “LNG is good for the country’s national energy security now and I commend the energy department’s support for the construction of LNG terminals in a bid to ensure continuous power supply this year.”

BCDA bares PPP projects for New Clark City 

With P95 billion investments committed by private sector for the New Clark City (NCC), the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is seeking more investments through bidding for the full-blown development of its flagship project in Clark. Soza bared the agency’s  investment opportunities under public-private partnership  for NCC, the development  of which the agency spearheads. These include: a 35 to 40-megawatt solar farm, one of the first renewable energy projects of BCDA in NCC; common information and communication technology infrastructure, estate management services; solid waste management and waste-to-energy project; operations and maintenance of the Sports Complex inside the National Government Administrative Center; data center colocation facility; pilot affordable housing; Clark integrated public transportation system; multimodal transport hubs and transit-oriented development; development of biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical science (R&D)/Industrial Park; eco-theme parks and ecotourism and mixed-use, retail and food and beverage.

Government preparing P1,000 inflation cash aid

The government is allocating some P9.3 billion in cash assistance for the most vulnerable sectors under the Targeted Cash Transfer (TCT) program after inflation exceeded expectations and hit 8.7 percent in January. “Right now we are considering a two-month subsidy for consumers. This will be a continuation of the TCT,” finance chief Benjamin Diokno told reporters on the sidelines of the Annual Reception for the Banking Community late Friday night. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) implements the TCT. Each recipient will receive P1,000 or P500 each month.