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Wednesday, July 5, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 261
P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 40 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
WEAK PESO, FRESH BORROWINGS SEEN IN RECORD HIGH
End-May PHL debt hits ₧14T By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas
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WEAKER peso and fresh borrowings both from local and foreign markets drove the Philippines’s outstanding debt past the P14-trillion mark, hitting a new record high for the country, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.
Latest BTr data showed that the country’s outstanding debt as of end-May stood at P14.096 trillion, P185 billion higher than the P13.911-trillion recorded debt stock in end-April. On a yearly basis, the country’s debt stock was P1.601 trillion higher than the P12.495-trillion debt level recorded by the country in May 2022. The country’s debt has grown by P676 billion since end-December 2022 when it was estimated at P13.42 trillion. The latest debt figure is already 96.35 percent of the anticipated P14.63-trillion outstanding debt
of the national government by the end of the year. Treasury data showed that 68 percent of the country’s outstanding debt was domestic, which was estimated at P9.588 trillion as of end-May. The amount was 1.4 percent higher than the P9.457-trillion domestic debt recorded in end-April. The remaining 32 percent of the national government’s debt w a s e x ter n a l. T he cou nt r y ’s exter na l debt as of end-May reached P4.508 tr illion from P4.453 trillion in end-April. See “Debt,” A2
D.O.T. BID OUT P550-M PROJECTS FOR REBRANDING CAMPAIGN By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM
Special to the BusinessMirror
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HE De pa r t me nt of Tourism (DOT) bid out this year some P550 million worth of projects, mostly in support for its updated branding development and campaign. Documents from the DOT website showed the campaign consisted of three major components: the development of the new slogan for P50 million, the actual production of creative materials for P250 million, and the international media placements for another P250 million. The bid for the new tourism slogan was won by DDB Philippines Inc., which recently came under fire for having used foreign stock footage to depict Philippine scenes in a launch video. Its contract has
since been terminated. (See, “Despite fiasco, ad agency of DOT could still get paid,” in the BusinessMirror, July 4, 2023.) This developed as Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda underscored the power of the “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” tourism slogan in attracting international travelers to the country. In an interview over ANC’s Headstart on Tuesday, he said total inbound visitors from 2012 to 2017, and 20192020, prior to the pandemic, reached some 33.4 million, for a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6 percent. “The “fun” slogan was used from 2012 to 2022.
P1.27B for branding budget
IN comparison, “WOW Philippines” which was used from See “DOT,” A2
NORTHERN FRONTIER General Andres Centino, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, third from left, and Filipino soldiers salute during flag-raising ceremonies on June 29, 2023, on Mavulis Island in Batanes province in northern Philippines. Centino checked on troops on the island, which lies at the country's northernmost tip nearest Taiwan. EZRA ACAYAN/POOL PHOTOS VIA AP
Labor bloc joins call to bare IPEF supply-chain details
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LOCAL labor group has joined international calls for the public disclosure of the details of supply chain agreement provision of the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) was among the 14 groups which made the demand, after IPEF Trade ministers made a “substantial conclusion” in their meeting in Detroit, Michigan on the said provision. The provision is expected to “increase resilience, efficiency, productivity, sustainability, transparency, diversification, security,
fairness, and inclusivity of their supply chain.” “Yet since the Parties continue to withhold the text, we are prevented from assessing these claims and seeking to influence the final outcomes to ensure those benefits are real, and not a repeat of the trade agreements designed to benefit the powerful states and transnational corporations,” the two-page joint statement read. T he g roup urged the IPEF Trade ministers to release the document agreed in Detroit before it undergoes legal scrubbing, and signed. See “IPEF,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.1770 n JAPAN 0.3814 n UK 70.0251 n HK 7.0436 n CHINA 7.6159 n SINGAPORE 40.8476 n AUSTRALIA 36.8031 n EU 60.2257 n KOREA 0.0423 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.7127 Source:
BSP (4 July 2023)