AMID SHIPMENT DELAYS, PEZA KEEPS $100-B GOAL
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n Monday, May 24, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 222
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 18 pages |
Deficit rise from new Bayanihan ‘affordable’
By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @Tyronepiad
HE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) is keen on meeting its target export revenues of $100 billion this year despite the shipment delays posing risks to the supply chain. With this goal in mind, the regulator of economic zones said it has been addressing its company locators’ worries over the constraints in the delivery of raw materials and other goods, which usually resulted in longer lead times. Peza Director General Charito B. Plaza, in an interview with the BusinessMirror, said the investment promotion agency has been working with the Bureau of Customs, Philippine Ports Authority and other agencies handling transportation of shipments to
resolve the matter. “Peza is actively coordinating with them so that they can facilitate the goods of our companies,” she explained. Industry sources told this newspaper earlier that shipment delays, which started around the last quarter of 2020, could range from two weeks to one month, thereby affecting the production of the manufacturers. A supply chain group warned that the delays in deliveries are expected to last even after Christmas.
SALCEDA: “I think adding .2 percent to the current [projected] deficit is very reasonable. We can afford it because it’s for the people.” By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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PHL KEEPS SIGHTS SET ON SPAIN AS TOURIST MARKET POST-PANDEMIC By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
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HE Philippines hopes to maintain Spain as a growth market for tourists once the global travel industry moves back into the new normal, post-pandemic. In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Gerard O. Panga, tourism attaché of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in London, said the Philippines was the only Southeast Asian
country with a booth at the just-concluded Fitur, the most important travel trade and consumer event in Spain. It is the first international travel trade show the Philippines attended and despite the lean delegation, he said they were able to “network with key Spanish trade counterparts and media supporters, [updating] them on our destinations and travel safety measures relative to the country’s reopening preparations and promotional plans.” Continued on A4
PESO exchange rates n US 47.9180
Workers do their tasks at the end station of LRT-1 in Baclaran, Parañaque City at the weekend. The government is expanding, after May or once vaccine supply stabilizes, the inoculation priority to the A4 and A5 clusters. These cover essential workers, frontliners in national government offices and uniformed personnel, and the indigent sector. NONIE REYES
@joveemarie
S plen a r y debates on Hou se pa ssage of t he third Covid-19 response package open this week, an economist-lawmaker has argued that the government can afford to ramp up its deficit spending to fund the proposed P405.6-billion Bayanihan 3. In an interview, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda admitted that the country’s projected deficit will increase more or by .2 percent with the passage of the Bayanihan to Arise as One Act, or Bayanihan 3. Still, Salceda said Bayanihan 3 is more fiscally responsible than past supplemental funding measures. “I think adding .2 percent to the current [projected] deficit is very reasonable. We can afford it because it’s for the people,” Salceda said.
n japan 0.4406 n UK 68.0100 n HK 6.1730 n CHINA 7.4459 n singapore 36.0232 n australia 37.2275 n EU 58.6133 n SAUDI arabia 12.7778
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Source: BSP (May 21, 2021)