Friday, August 31, 2007 DTI targets 11% growth in export By Joy Romares-Sevilla
TRADE department Assistant Secretary Merly M. Cruz said that Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is targeting an 11 percent growth in national export this year.
"DTI is targeting 11 percent national export growth this year, we will achieve this through reforms and strategies," Cruz said in an interview Tuesday.
In 2006, national exports grew by 14 percent from US$ 41.3 billion in 2005 to US$ 47 billion in 2006.
Cruz said the growth of national export from 2005 to 2006 is the fastest growth since 1998. She said the China, US, and Japan are the top export markets.
The reforms and strategies to achieve the growth in the national export include the promotion of services exports and nurturing capabilities of globally competitive enterprises that produce high quality products; the pursuant of more focus and aggressive export promotion to maintain, expand, and target new markets; enhancement of market access through bilateral and multilateral negotiations; and the improvement business environment to be more conducive to exporters.
"We are optimistic that our remarkable investment performance in 2006 will be sustained this year as manifested this early by our robust investment performance during the first semester of 2007," Cruz said.
She added that during the first six months of 2007, exports grew by 6.6 percent, the first semester 2007 investment approvals also grew by 30 percent with the growth rate in the manufacturing sector as the contributory to the increase.
Based on the National Statistics Office (NSO) data, export in the first semester of 2006 was only US$ 23 billion, while more than US$ 24 billion was the total export in the fist six months of 2007.
This year, Cruz said, DTI targets a total of P303 billion in national investments.
She said aggressive development and promotion of Key Sectors like the ICT, electronics, automotive, mining, health and wellness, marine, and garments, is needed to achieve the target.
"We will also intensify the promotion of RED (Retention, Expansion, Diversification) Program and the Strategic Investment Aftercare Program," Cruz said.
She added that they will also support the Super Regions Framework in infrastructure development and increase private sector participation and will continue the policy reforms and amendments to Omnibus Investment Code to achieve the target investment for this year.
"We will continue to work on amendments to the Omnibus Investment Code to simplify and rationalize the country's incentives system, taking into account the operations or mandates of all agencies granting incentives, with the end view of making our investment climate in terms of incentives at par with regional standards," she said.
