[ Malaya.com.ph ] January 6, 2009
By IRMA ISIP
Investments and exports this year are expected to fall flat this year according to trade secretary Peter B. Favila who said the impact can be felt for as long as three years.
"It’s getting deeper," said Favila of the meltdown. "It depends on how the other economies will perform" especially with the tension now gripping the Middle East, he addede.
In a briefing, Favila told reporters that he has mobilized the entire Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and all its bureaus and attached agencies to embark on a massive livelihood programs for Filipinos to be displaced by the financial crunch.
Favila also said he has ordered to realign more than 10 percent of the DTI’s P2.9-billion annual budget to livelihood programs and start to forego foreign trips and selling missions to cut costs.
"There are plans that we do not intend to pursue because some of those plans were made on the premise that the economy was to be as good as in the previous year," Favila said.
Already, Favila said orders of electronics and semiconductor products our biggest export, as relayed to him by the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc., have fallen 40 percent in the last quarter.
"I don’t see our (export to) major markets as having the same kind of numbers as we used to enjoy. In the US, there is hardly any consumption, or even in the United Kingdom. So what is there to sell? All other economies are looking at their domestic markets," Favila said.
Favila also said the DTI will tap funds from the SB Corp., the Development Bank of the Philippines and at least P100 million from the Industrial Guarantee and Loans Fund to bankroll startup projects of would-be entrepreneurs that would avail of the livelihood programs to be promoted by the DTI.
"They could be as retail as a sari-sari store. This is but temporary to make sure that those who are displaced are not idle," Favila said.
Favila said the investors will come in "but not as fast as they used to."
For both investments and export, Favila said the Philippines is looking as sources at the Emirates countries for their petro dollars and Japan, following the implementation of the Japan-Philippines economic partnership agreement last December.
Favila said the Philippines will continue to generate investments and revenues in services, particularly business process outsourcing and tourism, "but if we get from other sectors, it will be just a gravy."
Other sector which will remain bright are in agribusiness, biotechnology and mining.
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