WTO meet focus: Public stockholding for food security By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
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ITH the upcoming 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC13),Manila will champion reforms which include achieving “meaningful” outcomes on agriculture negotiation to achieve a “permanent” solution for public stockholding for food security purposes, among others, according to the Department of Trade and Industry’s International Trade Policy Group. In a statement on Saturday, the DTI said the Philippines is hoping for the international trade body to arrive at “meaningful outcomes” on agriculture talks. Among these are “to achieve
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a permanent solution for public stockholding for food security purposes, and an effective special safeguard mechanism [SSM] for developing countries.” The department said the country “sees the importance” of the second wave of fisheries subsidies negotiations as it targets to “establish a balanced approach on the disciplines on overcapacity and overfishing, including an effective and appropriate special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed members.” Last February 16, the multilateral trade body said Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson of Iceland, the chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, circulated to ministers a draft text on Additional Provisions
on Fisheries Subsidies, with disciplines on subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing, as the “basis for finalizing the negotiations on these issues at the 13th Ministerial Conference [MC13].” According to the WTO website, the chair said the text, which draws on members’ proposals and discussions, reflects his “best” attempt to identify a balance most likely to build consensus. “To assist the work at the Ministerial Conference, I have bracketed language in a few places in the new text to draw attention to issues in respect of which significant divergences in views remain. I believe ministers’ attention to these areas will be particularly warranted,” the chair said, citing subsidies to
distant water fishing and artisanal fishing, as well as certain figures in the text for transition periods and thresholds for special and differential treatment (SDT) for developing country members and least-developed country members. “While this text reflects my best attempt to identify a balance that I see as most likely to build consensus, the final outcome remains in the hands of members working together,” the chair said. Meanwhile, DTI said the Philippines is working with other members of the multilateral trade body “to resolve the impasse in the WTO Appellate Body [AB] or come up with a functioning dispute settlement system by 2024.”
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Monday, February 26, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 134
See “WTO,” A2
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FATF NOTES PHL’S ‘PROGRESS’ BUT KEEPS IT ON ITS GREY LIST By Cai U. Ordinario
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@caiordinario
HE Philippines has remained on the grey list of the Parisbased Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF), according to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
SEAMS OF CHANGE Employees in a garment shop in Taytay, Rizal, navigate their daily tasks against the backdrop of a pressing issue: the proposed legislation for a P100 daily across-the-board wage increase for the private sector. As the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) Chairman, Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., highlights, this potential wage hike poses significant challenges for small businesses, including those in the garment industry. If Senate Bill 2534 under Committee Report No. 190 passes into law, it could signify the first nationwide legislated pay raise since 1989, affecting workers across various sectors. NONOY LACZA
BSP EYES DOUBLING NUMBER OF CASH DEPOSIT MACHINES
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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) aims to double the number of Cash Deposit Machines (CoDMs) within the year to bring this service to Filipinos living outside of the Greater Manila Area (GMA). BSP Regional Operations and Advocacy Sector Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat told reporters this means the current 25 CoDMs will become 50 this year. Romulo-Puyat said, however, this will depend on the quotation that BSP’s supplier will have on the machines which are currently being leased to the central bank. “[We want] to double it, sana,” Romulo-Puyat said. “Hopefully [this year]. We’re just awaiting word on how much it will cost if we do it all over the country.” Romulo-Puyat said the 25 ma-
chines are currently located in malls in the National Capital Region (NCR) and GMA. The decision to place this in malls is based on the results of focus group discussions conducted by the BSP for the project. She traced the decision to add more CoDMs to other parts of the country to the “overwhelming” success of the program. The BSP official said a number of retailers have indicated their interest to have CoDMs in their malls. Currently, the CoDMs are located in Robinsons and SM malls. Romulo-Puyat said the Ayala Group is among the retailers who have expressed interest to host CoDMs in their malls. “We encourage everyone to use the CoDM. We hope to onboard more retail partners in the future. See “BSP,” A2
‘Traffic light’ system to help BSP in sustainable financing
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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will employ a traffic light system in determining if certain financing activities are considered sustainable. The system is at the center of the Monetary Board’s recently approved Philippine Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Guidelines (SFTG) for banks which will take effect starting 2025. The traffic light system—Green, Amber, and Red—will be assigned to financing activities. Green will be the assignment if the activity is aligned; amber, for partially aligned; and red for not aligned. “The issuance of a taxonomy is a crucial step in our sustainability journey. It provides high level guidance in determining the greenness of an investment,” BSP Governor and Monetary Board Chairman Eli M. Remolona Jr. said. “But this is just the first step to what I expect will be a long iterative
process of calibrating the document to fully capture the conditions of the Philippine economy,” he added. The SFTG currently focuses on two environmental objectives, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. Future iterations will cover ecosystems and biodiversity as well as the circular economy and a potential social component. The taxonomy stated that other environmental and social factors are considered through additional screening based on the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle, and Minimum Social Safeguards (MSS) that is appropriate to the Philippines context. “An activity should therefore have either a climate change mitigation of climate change adaptation focus [or both] to qualify for assessment under this version of the SFTG,” the taxonomy stated. See “Traffic,” A2
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This means the country is still part of the list of 21 countries who are under pines, while still in the grey increased monitoring of list, FATF’s latest recognithe FATF. These countries tion of the country’s proginclude Asian countries like ress in accomplishing the Vietnam and African narecommended action plans tions such as South Africa. sends a positive signal to the international commuAMLC said, however, nity on the country’s comthat the FATF cited the mitment to enhance its government’s commitment AML/CFT regimes,” it exto address their concerns. plained. AML/CFT pertains The initial deadline given to measures to combat Anby FATF to the country was ti-Money Laundering and January 2023. Terrorist Financing. “While the FATF does not call for the application In a statement, FATF of enhanced due diligence said it needs to continue to measures, its members work on implementing its and other jurisdictions action plan to address its may consider a country’s strategic deficiencies, ingrey listing in their risk cluding by demonstrating analysis when dealing with that effective risk-based the countr y and/or its supervision of Designated nationals,” AMLC said. Non-Financial Businesses “In the case of the PhilipSee “FATF,” A2
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PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.8870 n JAPAN 0.3713 n UK 70.7697 n HK 7.1446 n CHINA 7.7689 n SINGAPORE 41.6228 n AUSTRALIA 36.6228 n EU 60.5089 n KOREA 0.0421 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.9020 Source: BSP (February 23, 2024)