31 December 2014

$85B set as exports target for this year

Philippines is targeting to hit $85 billion in exports revenue by this year, Export Development Council (EDC) Executive Director Senen Perlada said.
Perlada, who is also the director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau, said the bullish expansion of services exports, pushed by strong software-development services and healthcare information management, will back the growth of the exports industry.
Perlada said initiatives by the government and the business community to address the port congestion in Manila will also boost the performance of exporters.
He added that better exchange rate will also support the exports sector in meeting its target earnings for 2015.
The EDC official also said local exporters will expand their markets by exploring opportunities in other offshore markets.
“Hopefully, we can extend a bit our markets, maybe to more of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] Plus [countries]; and, I think, maybe Turkey; hopefully, a bit of Brazil and Asean—the CLMV [Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam] countries,” he said.
GCC countries include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.
“The outlook is good. We will, at least, hit our export target, if not exceed it a little bit….Our target next year is $85 billion, this year [it is] around $79 billion,” Perlada stressed.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s balance of payments data showed that in January to September 2014, exports of goods and services grew by 11 percent to $55.2 billion, from the same period in 2013 at $49.7 billion.
The Aquino administration, under the original Export Development Plan, initially targeted to increase export revenues to $120 billion by 2016, double the amount in 2010.
However, due to domestic and global developments that affected the competitiveness of Philippine exporters, the government decided to revise the 2016 projection.
The EDC, a public-private organization that oversees the crafting and implementation of the growth blueprint for the exports sector, is now seeking to increase export revenues to close to $100 billion in 2016.
source:  Business Mirror

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