EDC approves reduced 19% exports growth target
The Export Development Council (EDC) has approved a revised Philippines exports growth target to $105 billion by 2022 or 19.23 percent lower than the original forecast of $130 billion taking into consideration impact of pandemic and weaker global demand.
“The revised targets are lower than the original targets where export levels were originally projected to reach over $130 billion by 2022,” said Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez.
In this revised set of targets, Lopez said the country’s exports will reach $105 billion by 2022, but still growing from $91.7 billion in 2021.
Given the height of the lockdown and the pandemic in 2020, he said, estimated exports decline for that year is at negative 13.5 percent
The positive growth of 2 percent in September and 3 percent in November last year was not enough to totally offset the decline in the first half of 2020 which was the height of the lockdown. But export numbers continued to improve month on month reaching positive growth by September and November vs their same month previous year numbers.
“We can write off the 2020 numbers, so to speak, but the rebound is expected this year 2021, where we expect to bounce back to a +12.5 percent in 2021 and +14.8 percent in 2022,” said Lopez, chair of EDC.
Lopez considers the new revised growth goals as fighting targets, which were arrived at after intensive consultations with each export sector and stakeholder and global market prospects per sector.
This also means, he said, that everyone shall exert all efforts in terms of policies and support programs to assist the export sector and help them achieve these fighting targets.
“We expect the CREATE bill and other economic reforms to be passed in Congress, the Build Build Build and other investment and export promotion including digitalization programs to drive up more investment investment inflows to increase our export capacities, and unleash our potentials in higher value sectors such as in electronics, automotive, aerospace, IT BPM, copper and the creative industries, plus the potential in halal exports,” he concluded.