Exports seen growing 8%

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s total exports may grow by more than eight percent this year amid an expected recovery in electronic products and sustained increase in service exports.

Senen Perlada, executive director of the public-private Export Development Council (EDC) and director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau told reporters the country’s total exports could exceed the government’s forecast of eight-percent growth this year.

“We’re upbeat on the electronics exports,” he said citing the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc.’s (SEIPI) revision of its growth projection for outbound shipments of electronic products this year.

Last week, the SEIPI announced it was expecting electronic exports to rise by five to eight percent this year from 2013’s $21.823 billion amid strong global demand.

Electronic products account for the bulk of merchandise exports.

Apart from electronic products, Perlada said the government also expects service exports such as information technology-business process management and tourism sectors to continue to go up.

Despite the positive outlook on electronic products and service exports, he said the port congestion may affect the overall export performance for the year.

“You have port congestion so you have to balance that. Demand is perking up but we don’t know if that will be sufficient,” he said.

The truck ban imposed in Manila in February has resulted in cargoes being stuck at the city’s ports.

Government data released last week at the Philippine Economic Briefing showed that total exports are expected to increase by eight percent to reach $85.2 billion this year from $78.5 billion last year.

For 2015, total exports are projected to post a 10-percent uptick to $94 billion and to climb further by 12 percent to $105 billion by 2016.

Perlada said the growth projections are within the range of targets in the EDC’s proposed Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) for 2014 to 2016.

The PEDP has yet to be submitted to President Aquino for approval.