AN export-development fund amounting to around P1.8 billion has been endorsed by Malacañang to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) this month as requested by exporters, a senior industry official said.
While the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2014-2016 is still awaiting the President’s approval, the source said the budget component has already been endorsed by the Office of the Executive Secretary to the DBM to be included in the government’s budget for 2016.
“This budget would probably be lodged in the Department of Trade and Industry’s [DTI] budget,” said the source privy to the plan’s progress. The budget, said the source, would be used for general exports promotion and development.
Philippine Exporters Confederation President and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Honorary Chairman Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., in an earlier report, said more government support should be given to enhance the competitiveness of the country’s export sector, given that the budget of the DTI has been reduced by 14 percent for the incoming year.
Exporters have said earlier that the International Trade Group under the DTI, which is tasked to promote Philippine exports, only has a P500-million budget, with 80 percent of the funding going to employee salaries and administrative costs.
The PEDP 2014-2016 is the export-sector component of the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, the government’s primary economic and social-development program.
It outlines the export targets and product and market strategies to boost export growth within the three-year period, taking into consideration the problems affecting local and international markets.
The proposed PEDP set a growth target of 8 percent to 9 percent for total exports this year, from last year’s $78.5 billion.
For 2015, exports are targeted to grow from 9 percent to 10 percent, while a growth range of 10 percent to 11 percent was projected in 2016.