Export dev’t seen outweighing favorable US tariff — Balisacan

THE Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said any tariff concessions the Philippines may yet wrest from the US won’t matter much if its export industries remain underdeveloped.

- By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza Reporter

“Unless you improve your productive capacity here, then even if the US or any country open up their doors as big or as wide as possible, you don’t have anything to export,” Economy Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters.

The Philippines is undertaking continued negotiations with the US via electronic communications after it was assigned a 19% tariff on goods shipped to the US.

“The tariff was higher for Vietnam. Before Trump reduced their tariff, it was high... But the question is, do you have exports (like Vietnam does?) Do you have rice to export? Do you have coffee to export?” he noted.

“The issue is really addressing constraints to grow productivity,” he added. “We're not competitive.”

The Philippine tariff is now level with Indonesia’s, and slightly lower than Vietnam’s 20%. Singapore was assigned the lowest tariff in the region, 10%.

Mr. Balisacan also called for equal attention to domestic issues that affect entrepreneurial growth, including weak infrastructure.

“I would like to say that we need to diversify our export markets,” he said, but not before “improving our production” and “addressing those issues that are being raised by the business community.”