Export leader suggests quick decisions of new gov't to sustain export recovery and propel high growt
May 16, 2010 The incoming Noynoy administration can take big strides at hastening recovery of exports and propel the industry to sustained growth with three quick decisions in its first one hundred days.
This was suggested by Philippine Exporters Confederation (PHILEXPORT) President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. in an official statement released today.
The first of the three-quick wins, Ortiz-Luis said, is the cutting down of the cost of doing business in the Philippines which is considered one of the highest in East Asia.
Among the the biggest contributors to the high cost of doing business here, he pointed out, is high electricity rates that more than doubled in April in the MERALCO franchise area, the high cost of port handling and domestic shipping, and the hidden costs attached to the processing of business permits, licenses and clearances.
The second quick win that the export leader suggested is the institutionalization of the Export Support Fund (ESF) through an executive fiat. The ESF was set in place by President Arroyo at the hight of the global recession in late 2008 to help save from collapse the different export industries, sectors and clusters .
Of the P1 billion grant to organized exporters, the Export Development Council has released only P200 Million and is still negotiating for the release of the balance.
Ortiz-Luis said that the ESF, under the new administration could be tacked into the yearly regular budget of the Department of Trade and Industry to cover specific programs and projects of the EDC for export promotions and development.
He recalled that such a fund was first tried with a small grant from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas then expanded to P280 million with pooled funds from the DTI, the BSP, NEDA, the Department of Budget and Management and PHILEXPORT and named export promotions fund (EPF).
The institutionalized ESF would be the resource that will regularly fuel the implementation of the Philippine Export Development Plan that EDC, DTI and the private sector prepares every three years.
At the height of the crisis, Malacanang picked the bill by allocating P1 billion grant form the Office of the President which expanded the activities to be covered to include the setting up of common service facilities and other developmental projects like the furniture design center of Cebu.
A third quick win, Ortiz-Luis further suggested, is the immediate review of the mandate of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to make the exchange rate policy a weapon in speeding up and sustaining economic growth and development, not just a tool at reining in inflation.
In this period of recovery, the margins of exporters are fast getting eroded by a strengthening peso against the US dollar.
- Abe P. Belena, PHILEXPORT News and Features || May 14, 2010 | 
