Shun luxury imports, buy local-Balisacan

National Socioeconomic Planner Arsenio M. Balisacan is urging Filipino consumers to shun imported luxury goods for homegrown products, asserting that money spent locally boosts the economy faster than money sent overseas.

- By DERCO ROSAL

"I like it if there’s a slowdown in those areas [luxury spending] because these are very import-dependent anyway. The value added is low," Balisacan told reporters on the sidelines of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines’ (ECCP) European-Philippine Business Dialogue (EPDB) last week.

"All these luxury imports do not really generate much economic activity. If our consumers are shifting to locally produced goods that are not as luxurious as Lexus, then it creates more economic activity," Balisacan noted.