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PHL DEBT SERVICE RISES 98% TO P819B IN 5 MOS T w
By Cai U. Ordinario
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Monday, July 24, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 280
P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 28 pages |
@caiordinario
A BusinessMirror Special Feature
HE Philippines’s debt service nearly doubled in the January to May period this year on the back of higher amortization of debts, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr). Data showed the country’s debt service reached P819.526 billion in the first five months of the year, a 97.92-percent growth from the P414.069 billion posted in 2022. The country’s debt service payments this year was at its highest in February at P375.714 billion, followed by P204.763 billion in April 2023. Amortization of debt payments
www.businessmirror.com.ph
PHL Development Plan offers clear compass for national devt, at last
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EXPLAINER »B4
WHY ALLOWING UKRAINE TO SHIP GRAIN DURING RUSSIA’S WAR MATTERS TO THE WORLD
they should prioritize their programs. The target is for the creation of a new blueprint by year end. He said the PDP timeline is signed by the President by the end of the year and distributed to Congress and the respective implementing agencies and stakeholders by the start of 2023. This, however, will drastically change the calendar for the PDP.
Promise met
BUT Neda kept its word and presented a complete PDP in December 2022. By January 2023, the PDP and its results matrices were made available to the public. "As a former Neda Secretary, I welcome most of the following documents: Socioeconomic framework; Medium-term Fiscal Framework; and the Philippine Development Plan. These documents help provide a stable pre-
The previous administration, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, failed to achieve their PDP plan targets in the Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA) Program with 4.5 percent of its target being achieved. PHOTO BY BERNARD TESTA
dictable environment for the private sector, both households and firms," Canlas said. This is especially crucial given the pandemic and the ill effects of the lockdowns, which was deemed the longest in the world. These negative effects have been felt in various sectors, most notably in human capital development, par-
ticularly in education. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the previous administration failed to achieve their PDP plan targets in the Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA) Program with 4.5 percent of its target being achieved. The PSA also said Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP)
also achieved 6.6 percent of its targets; Special Training for Employment Program (STEP) with 18.5 percent; and Immersion Outreach Program at 17.5 percent.
Interest rate hike
APART from this, expensive food and non-food commodities have been difficult to ignore. This
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
& Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
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See “PHL,” A2
See “Concrete ways,” A2
Budget, Ledac bills priority as Congress reopens today
If there's one thing that stands out among all the economic measures implemented by the administration in its first year, it’s the early formulation of a medium term socioeconomic blueprint, former National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Dante B. Canlas told the BusinessMirror. The formulation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) in the same year the administration took over the reins of government is a first. This, Neda Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said, allows the government to direct its actions early on in accordance with the goals and aspirations set by the current administration. Balisacan, in an earlier interview with BusinessMirror, said the new administration will fast-track the release of the blueprint in order to guide departments on where
reached P589.952 billion in the January to May period this year, a growth of 204.72 percent from the P193.606 billion posted in the first five months of 2022. In May 2023, however, BTr data showed debt service contracted 14.62 percent to P49.047 billion from P57.444 billion in the same period last year.
sible reversal of the Retail Trade Liberalization (RTL) law, particularly in allowing the National Food Authority (NFA) to intervene. The law is the only reason why rice prices have not been a significant cause for higher inflation. “If the President assures that he will [retain] the RTL, that he won’t touch it, that might temper an increase in prices [especially in the context of] a shortfall in the December harvest,” Jandoc told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
By Cai U. Ordinario
MAGINE this: going on a road trip without maps or the aid of GPS. That has been the dilemma of previous administrations without an economic blueprint to use as a guide in navigating choppy economic waters.
‘Concrete ways to address food security woes needed’ YEAR into the Marcos Jr. administration, local economists are looking for concrete projects and programs that would address the country’s food security issues, especially with inflation remaining elevated and the impending El Niño. University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) Associate Professor Karl Robert L. Jandoc said he is eager to hear about the President’s plans for agriculture since prices remain elevated. Jandoc also worries over a pos-
SPECIAL FEATURES, C1-C8
Monday, July 24, 2023 C1
NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT Migratory birds gracefully perch atop a stone in the heart of the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism area, set against the contrasting landscape of reclamation projects in Manila Bay. Their presence stands as a testament to the vitality of our wetlands, coastlines and forests. Migratory birds, as vital indicators, seek refuge in these ecosystems, finding momentary respite and sustenance before continuing their journey. NONIE REYES
BUSINESSMIRROR AGRI PAGE, REPORTER INDUCTED INTO ‘BINHI’ HALL OF FAME STAYING true to its vision of providing a broader look at today’s business enabled the BusinessMirror to achieve a rare feat in Philippine agricultural journalism history: having two Hall of Fame inductees on a single night. The BusinessMirror’s ARCALAS Agri-Commodities page, which is edited by Associate Editor Jennifer A. Ng, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Binhi Awards of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ) last Thursday. It was elevated to the PAJ’s Hall of Fame for winning the Best Agriculture Section of a National Newspaper award for four years (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019). BusinessMirror reporter Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas was
also inducted into the Hall of Fame for bagging the Agricultural Journalist of the Year award for three consecutive years (2018, 2019 and 2020). This is Arcalas’s second Hall of Fame award. In 2021, he received the Oriental Leaf Award and joined the Bright Leaf Hall of Fame. PAJ said awardees are elevated to the Hall of Fame after winning the top prize in the same category of the Binhi awards thrice.
Arcalas also won the 2023 Binhi’s Rice Story of the Year Award for his story titled “PHL to WTO: Rice trade liberalization regime stays as is” (https://businessmirror.com. ph/2022/12/22/phl-to-wto-ricetrade-liberalization-regimestays-as-is/). The story discussed the current administration’s policy regarding the Philippines’s current liberalized rice trade regime, which started in 2019 following the enactment of the landmark Republic Act 11203 or the Rice Trade Liberalization Act. BusinessMirror Senior Editor Dennis D. Estopace represented the newspaper during the awarding ceremony held at the National Food Authority auditorium in Quezon City on July 20. The Binhi Awards was sponsored by conglomerate San Miguel Corp.
S the Second Regular Session resumes today (Monday), the House of Representatives w il l concentrate on passing the proposed 2024 General Appropriations Act and measures to carry out President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s promise to lower the price of rice to P20 per kilo, as well as the remaining priority bills. The approval of the P5.768-trillion 2024 national budget, which is expected to be presented to the House of Representatives a week after the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), will be one of the top priorities, according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. The House targets to approve the proposed national budget before the first recess of the 2nd Regular Session in October, Romualdez said. The proposed national budget for next year is P500 billion higher than this year’s P5.268-trillion spending program. Under the Constitution, the President has 30 days after the Sona to submit his budget proposal to Congress. “We will prioritize, of course, the P5.7-trillion budget that will be submitted within a week. [I heard] that the DBM will submit our 2024 budget NEP [National Expenditure Program] a week after the Sona,” he said. “We average at least five weeks of solid work [until October congressional break] on the budget deliberations, considerations, review, and approval through the third reading. So we are confident with the processes, protocols, and procedures that we have to pass the national budget, which is the most important piece of legislation,” added the speaker. See “Budget,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.4610 n JAPAN 0.3889 n UK 70.1022 n HK 6.9703 n CHINA 7.5875 n SINGAPORE 41.0407 n AUSTRALIA 36.9246 n EU 60.6532 n KOREA 0.0426 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.5186 Source: BSP (July 21, 2023)
is the reason other economists believe one of the key economic measures undertaken by the current administration was the rise in interest rates. Since last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has raised interest rates by 425 basis points. It's only in the last two policy meetings that the Monetary Board decided to pause its aggressive monetary policy. "I believe that the economic team of the government played an important role in managing the economic condition of the country despite the turmoil around the world: fluctuating fuel prices, war, and trade wars,” De La Salle University economist Maria Ella Oplas told BusinessMirror. "We could have suffered worse but they managed the impact of external issues. I need them to be able to continuously manage prices so as not to aggravate the situation of our poorest of the poor," she added. Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) economist Leonardo A. Lanzona agreed with Oplas that interest rates have been the most notable macroeconomic reform the current administration did in its first year.
Fighting inflation
HOWEVER, much work needs to be done in terms of fighting inflation. Lanzona said measures to
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