A development plan that would help the "laggard" Philippines improve its export performance has been approved by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Photo courtesy of KJ Rosales/PPA Pool)

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual announced that Marcos has approved the Philippine Export Development Plan on Tuesday, June 6, during a sectoral meeting in Malacañang.

Pascual said they got the President's approval "with just some couple of additions to the plan."

"Well, we presented to the President the proposed Philippine Export Development Plan which DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) formulated pursuant to the Export Development Act of 1994. As already mentioned, this defines the country’s export thrusts, strategies, programs and projects and we sought the President’s approval which we got with just some couple of additions to the plan," Pascual said in a Palace briefing.

According to the Trade chief, the plan aims to address challenges in various sectors of the economy, particularly those sectors that are involved in—or potentially could be involved in exports.

He added that it will capitalize on export growth opportunities, considering market trends and the available or existing competencies in the Philippines.

"It seeks to undertake an industry development centric approach to make the Philippines a major player in the global economy and achieve sustainable development goals," Pascual said.

He further said that the Philippine Export Development Plan 2023-2028 sets a clear direction and pragmatic approach for transforming the country’s export landscape by promoting investments, facilitating trade, and developing key industry clusters.

The plan aims to achieve substantial export growth and establish the Philippines as a producer of high value products and services, he added.

PH being a 'laggard'

Pascual said that the plan will also seek to address the current status of the Philippines being a "laggard" in terms of exports in the region.

"As you may know, the Philippines is lagging behind our neighboring countries when it comes to export. We can consider ourselves as ‘laggards’ currently so this plan will help us uplift the government’s—I mean, the Philippines’ performance in exports," he said.

"It may not be to… yet match the levels achieved by the more progressive neighbors that we have but it will certainly improve the volume of our exports," he added.

The DTI chief explained that in the past, the government only implemented policies at the macro level that applies to the whole economy.

But under the Export Development Plan, they are proposing an industry-level intervention or policy issuances that will support sector development, including firm-level interventions.

"Because we believe that we need to work closely with individual firms to be able to take care of their needs as they venture into potential export business for their companies," he pointed out.

"The export competitiveness of the Philippines lies in the competitiveness of the firms themselves. It’s not we say competitiveness of the country but actually the competitiveness is being materialized or realized at the firm level – that’s why the firm-level intervention. So we must develop reliable, design-driven, technology-driven, sustainable and forward looking exporters to become or to make the Philippines an agile export powerhouse," he explained.

The plan outlines three strategic actions to develop the export clusters— addressing production constraints, developing a strong innovative export ecosystem, and increasing the Philippines’ mindshare in the global market.