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THE
Arroyo government must move fast to cushion the impact
of an economic slowdown in the United States, the
country’s top trading partner, by quickly adopting
anticipatory measures, such as lowering transaction
cost to prop up the export industry and intensify
promotion of Philippine exports to other countries, Sen.
Loren Legarda suggested Tuesday.
“We must
tap more markets for our exports, other than the US, so
that we are not overly affected whenever some of our
trading partners experience economic contraction,” she
said.
In a
statement, Legarda cautioned that the Philippines, while
now enjoying a favorable economic position, could “reel
from the contraction of its exports to the US and the
vulnerability of the employment of overseas Filipino
workers [OFWs] there.”
She
noted that it is the expatriate workers who are laid off
first whenever there is an economic slowdown in the
country where they work.
“So,
OFWs in the
US
would be put in a precarious position if the feared
recession there materializes,” she warned.
Legarda,
likewise, voiced concern over recent reports that giant
chip maker Intel Corp., a top
US
computer company, is planning to ramp down its
Philippine operations, a move that could layoff
thousands of workers.
She
added that “consumption of imported products, including
those exported by the Philippines to the US, will also
go down, hitting hard Filipino exporters who are already
disadvantaged by the strong peso vis-à-vis the US
dollar.”
“It is
time to introduce measures to support the Philippine
export industry by lowering transaction costs, providing
them with a support fund and promoting RP exports in
other countries,” the senator said, adding that the
government must also “boost spending on infrastructure,
agriculture and social services, among others, to ensure
sustainable economic growth.”
Legarda
also cited a World Bank forecast that Philippine economy
will likely grow at a slower 5.9 percent this year from
a robust 7.3 percent in 2007, largely due to record-high
dollar remittances from OFWs.
She
suggested adopting the prudent approach of other
countries to “decouple themselves from just a few
trading partners by thinking globally and not just
regionally.”
According to Legarda, the World Bank, at the same time,
cautioned said that while Southeast Asian economies have
exhibited robust growth last year, they are not entirely
immune from the US slump, more so in the case of the
Philippines with nearly half of its overseas workers
based in that country.
She
noted that a troubling economic indicator for 2008 is
the 16-month-high inflation rate of 5.4 percent in
February, “something which we expect to continue amid
rising rice and oil prices.”
Legarda
proposed that the government, in order to create more
jobs and ease poverty, must come up with a pro-poor
economic agenda whose benefits should trickle down to
the countryside.
“The
country must also look into the World Bank’s proposal to
improve macroeconomic and revenue management, two areas
of concern identified by the international
financial institution,” she added. |
