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Philippines: Government eyes trade surplus in 2022
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is eyeing to get out of its trade slump in five year’s time as it moves to attract more manufacturers to set up shop and significantly jack up domestic production, enabling the country to ship out more products.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the government plans to significantly trim the country’s trade deficit by 2022 and eventually turn it into a surplus – a first for the Philippines in decades.
“With the good things happening now, the reforms, infrastructure buildup, competitive exchange rate, we see more investments coming in,” Lopez said yesterday during the 2017 National Export Congress.
“Aside from creating jobs, this will translate to more production capacity that we need. Hopefully we will be able to produce what we need and export the excess until we reach a better trade balance and later on an export surplus. It will take time but we have to start somewhere and that’s the reason why we need to continually push for a very competitive climate for investment,” he added.
Lopez hopes the trade surplus will be attained before the end of the current administration.
“If not, the deficit should be lower by then,” he said.
“It’s a structural reform. It will take time to slowly build up capacity with the investments coming in until such time you really have the capacity to supply the requirements of the economy and your ability to send outside to export,” the trade chief added.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority released last month showed the country’s trade deficit narrowed 5.4 percent in September as exports growth outpaced imports for the 10th consecutive month.
A trade deficit occurs when a country’s imports exceed its exports. A trade surplus, on the other hand, happens when exports surpass imports.
“The big challenge is now on us: the government, the export community, and the academe,” Lopez said, raising the country’s exports goal to as much as $150 billion by 2022.
“Let us continue to work together to reach our export target of $122 billion to $140 billion or $150 billion by 2022, by ensuring growth between 8.7 percent and 10 percent annually,” he said.
Total exports of the country was earlier targeted to hit from $122 billion to $131 billion by 2022 as stated in the Philippine Exports Development Plan.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/12/06/1765589/government-eyes-trade-surplus-2022