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A GROUP
composed of some 30 civic organizations called on the
Philippine negotiating team in the World Trade
Organization (WTO) to take the lead in opposing the
so-called middle ground proposals that would result in
deeper cuts on the tariffs being imposed by developing
countries on nonagricultural products.
The new
compromise formula being espoused by Chile, Hong Kong,
China, Mexico, Peru and Singapore, among others, calls
for the adoption of a coefficient between 18 and 22 for
developing countries in the computation of the tariff
cuts using the previously agreed Swiss Formula.
Developed countries, on the other hand, are being told
to agree to a coefficient of 15.
Under
the Swiss Formula, the lower the coefficient, the deeper
the tariff cuts will be, as the new bound rate (the
tariff rate agreed upon under the WTO system) will be
arrived at by multiplying the coefficient with the
present bound rate divided by the coefficient plus the
present bound rate.
The Stop
the New Round (SNR) Movement said the Philippines should
now be the lead country in opposing the new proposal
since Secretary Peter Favila had already made known at
the recent Apec meet in Australia that the country will
not accept a coefficient that is lower than 30 for
developing nations.
The
Philippines, the group said, should now become the lead
voice in the so-called Nama 11—consist of 11 hardliners
in the WTO negotiations for nonagriculture market access
such as Argentina, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Namibia, the
Philippines, South Africa and Tunisia.
“We
challenge you now in this most critical time in the
negotiations to exhibit leadership in Nama 11. We
challenge you to be the leading developing country voice
in Nama 11 in calling for the rejection of the new Nama
proposal,” SNR told Favila in a letter.
The
Philippines has about 6,000 Nama tariff lines, with the
average duty at 23 percent.
Using 20
as coefficient, the
Philippines’
new average bound rate will drop to about 10.6 percent.
A 30
coefficient, meanwhile, will peg the country’s bound
rate to 13 percent.
SNR said
sectors that would be adversely affected by this deep
cut include the automotive sector, apparel, plastics,
leather products and footwear, the furniture sector,
rubber products, fabricated metals, wood and wood
products, and paper and paper products.
“A
compromise deal on Nama would compromise jobs. Job
losses could be expected in the motor vehicles sector,
which employs around 39,000, the apparel sector with an
even bigger employment of 370,000, the leather and
footwear sector with 69,000 workers, furniture sector
with 143,000 workers and plastic products which provide
jobs to 54,000 workers,” the group said.
SNR said
the latest proposal from developing countries led by
Chile for a middle-ground solution represents a serious
break from the position of Nama 11, of which the
Philippines is an active member.
The
group said the US and the EU could be behind this
compromise as they want to squeeze as much as they can
from developing countries on Nama as payback for what
they claim to be their own concessions in agriculture,
concessions that many analysts feel are not even enough
to level the playing field in agriculture.
“It is
clear that the
US
and the EU want an ambitious Nama formula in order to
pry open the market for industrial and fisheries sector
in developing countries,” it said. |
