Neda sees continuing downtrend in inflation By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig
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NFLATION figures for the month of May will be released Tuesday, and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) hinted that it will show a continuing “downward trend.” “We are expecting and predicting that inflation will go down 3, 4, 5 percent by the end of the year so that we are back to 2-4 percent inflation target the year thereafter,” Neda Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a chance interview after the Philippine-Israel business forum Monday.
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Headline inflation in the Philippines this year started at a high of 8.7 and 8.6 for January and February. It went down to 7.6 and 6.6 in March and April. Balisacan said they are making provisions for the effects of El Niño, so that it will not affect the inflation target of the government. Meteorologists from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) are predicting a higher chance of mild drought —brought about by the warming of the seas—called El Niño phenomenon by August this year. “The effects of the El Niño in the
past should not be repeated this time,” Balisacan said, including production shortfalls in basic commodities and food inflation. He said the government should now be able to project what areas will be affected by the El Niño and identify the interventions needed. “Link those areas with available supplies elsewhere including importing if we need to,” Balisacan said. Provisioning of food to affected populations will be taken care of by the Department of Social Welfare. He said President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has formed
an interagency committee on inflation and market outlook which he is heading. The committee will provide President “ex ante” analyses by anticipating supply and demand issues “months before” such as prepositioning the market, importation requirements, and fast-tracking assistance to farmers. He said the Development Budget Coord ination Committee (DBCC) is meeting this week to see if there is a need to change the targets of the economic team based on the inflation data and issues such as the impending El Niño food crisis.
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DBM: INFRA, EDUCATION,
AGRI ON ’24 PRIORITIES By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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Israeli FM eyes US$1-B investments in PHL in ’24
@jearcalas
UDGET Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said the proposed P5.75-trillion 2024 national budget will sustain the priority sectors in this year’s budget, including infrastructure, agriculture, health and education.
In a statement, Pangandaman said the national government will continue to “prioritize” expenditure items that will “steer the economy back on a high growth path.” Pangandaman added that the 2024 budget remains in line with the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework and the administration’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda. “We will continue the infrastructure program of the national government, from Build, Build, Build to Build, Better, More, from 5 [to] 6 percent of GDP, now this year, it’s 5.8 percent. So we’re still working on the 2024 budget, so we need to adhere to that,” Pangandaman said. T he Budget Secretar y a lso stressed the need to hike the funding for the agriculture sector to boost domestic food production, considering the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We all know that this year, we increased it to about 40 percent because from previous years it seemed that we did not give enough investment. The support for agriculture was always low,” Pangandaman said. “But when the pandemic happened, everything closed—our value chains stopped, and it is important we have enough food in our country,” she added. Pangandaman added that support will likewise be given to the health and education sectors, including the upgrading of skills of the country’s workforce. See “DBM,” A2
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PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. warmly receives Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen at Malacañang Palace, Monday, June 5, 2023. Prior to their meeting, Minister Cohen held a bilateral discussion with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo at the Manila Hotel. This historic visit marks the first time an Israeli foreign minister has set foot in the Philippines since 1967. JOEY RAZON/PNA
DOT PARTNERS WITH GRAB FOR CITY TOURS PILOT RUN By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
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HE Department of Tourism (DOT) is currently pilottesting a project with ridehailing app Grab Philippines, where select partner-drivers will take tourists around the city. In a post on its Facebook page last May 12 titled, “On-demand tours in Manila launching soon,” the DOT said Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco met with Grab executives to discuss their partnership, which will allow individuals to “book tours within the Grab platform.”
The agency shared, “Under the GrabTours Manila project, passengers can book a 5-hour tour around Manila via the Grab mobile application….The drivers, who will also undergo briefing on the tourist sites, will double as tour guides during the trip and will ferry the passengers using vehicles wrapped with the distinct Grab and DOT branding. After the tour, passengers will be dropped off at their hotel lobby.” This is the second initiative of the DOT for city tours, after recently launching the Hop-on, Hop-Off bus tours project. (See, “Ayala ties up with DOT for HoHo bus tours,”
in the BusinessMirror, June 1, 2023.)
Trained in FBSE
ACCORDING to the agency, “For purposes of the pilot run, concierge booths will be placed in the DOTaccredited hotels. The drivers, who will already be on standby within the identified hotels, shall pick up passengers at the hotel lobby and proceed to take them to some of the City’s most popular destinations—Luneta Park, Fort Santiago, Casa Manila, San Agustin Church, National Museum of the Philippines, and Binondo, following an itinerary curated and approved by the DOT-NCR [National Capital
Region] Office.” The agency added that 30 GrabCar drivers completed its one-day training on the Filipino Brand of Service Excellence (FBSE) last April 28 and will take part in the pilot run. Frasco “emphasized the pivotal role of the private sector in the DOT’s whole-of-nation approach to tourism development [and] expressed optimism on the success of the pilot run of the GrabTours Manila.” She noted, “the platform’s potential to benefit tourists in areas outside Metro Manila, as well as to expand and involve more tourism stakeholders and sites in the long run.” See “DOT,” A2
SRAEL Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is here in Manila, the first visit by Israel’s highest ranking diplomat in 56 years. Cohen brought with him in Manila a delegation of Israeli businessmen, and targets to double the Israeli investments from US$500 million to US$1 billion next year. “Today, I am encouraging my fel low Israeli and Philippine friends to seize the opportunity and establish meaningful relations. Together we can elevate the bilateral trade volume to new heights, strengthening our economies and improving the lives of our citizens,” Cohen said in a speech at the opening of the PhilippineIsrael business forum in Makati Monday. National Economic and Development Aut hor it y (Ned a) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan met Cohen before the business forum and welcomed the visit of the Israeli’s foreign minister as a sign of Israeli’s commitment to improve economic ties with the Philippines. Balisacan said the Israelis see the Philippines as a “very important” partner. He said the top three major sectors where Israeli companies can venture in the Philippines are: water, information and communication technology including cybersecurity, and agriculture. “The water for us is really a game changer. If they can help us with our water security, that would be great. [In their place], there’s hardly any water except the salty water. But they are able to convert salty water into drinking water,” the Neda chief noted. Israel is a world pioneer in water engineering, with more than 80 percent of its drinking water sourced from desalinated seawater and brackish water. “The reverse is true in our case. We have so much water but we don’t have the technology and management practices to harvest the water, store it and release it when it’s needed. See “Israeli FM,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.9610 n JAPAN 0.3998 n UK 69.6826 n HK 7.1408 n CHINA 7.8862 n SINGAPORE 41.4342 n AUSTRALIA 36.9343 n EU 59.9342 n KOREA 0.0429 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.9209 Source: BSP (June 5, 2023)