PHL agri trade deficit widens to $3.22B in Q4 By Raadee S. Sausa
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THE WORLD ›› A10
PARIS: HEAPS OF GARBAGE BECOME PROTEST SYMBOL
HE Philippines, a net food importer, widened its agr icu ltura l trade def icit by 36.3 percent year-on-year to $3.22 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). PSA data showed that the country incurred the deficit as its food imports outpaced its exports in
the October to December period. Figures indicated that agricultural export earnings fell by 15 percent to $1.55 billion, from last year’s $1.82 billion. Its imports, however, grew by nearly 14 percent to $4.76 billion, from the previous year’s $4.184 billion. “The country’s total agricultural trade in the fourth quarter of 2022, which amounted to $6.32 billion, grew at an annual rate of 5.1 percent. This was lower than the an-
nual rates of 17.6 percent and 25.5 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2022 and fourth quarter of 2021, respectively,” the PSA said. The agency said the top 10 commodity groups in terms of value of agricultural exports contributed $1.50 billion or 96.8 percent of the total agricultural exports’ revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022. “The combined export value of these top 10 commodity groups posted an annual decrease of -14.9
percent during the quarter. Among the commodity groups, edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus fruit melons, which was valued at $720.94 million, comprised the largest share of 28.1 percent to the total agricultural exports,” the PSA said. The agency also noted that cereals, including rice, accounted for the largest share at $924.56 million, or nearly 20 percent of the See “Agri trade,” A2
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BOP swings to deficit in February By Cai U. Ordinario
Firms, govt to address job-skills mismatch
@caiordinario
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HE settlement of the country’s foreign currency debt obl igat ions caused t he Philippines’s balance of payments (BOP) to post a deficit in February, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The BSP said the country’s overall BOP position widened to $895 million in February 2023, the widest in five months. This was a reversal from the BOP surplus of $3.08 billion in January 2023 and was wider than the $157 million deficit posted in February 2022. “The BOP deficit in February 2023 reflected outflows arising mainly from the National Government’s [NG] net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures,” BSP said in a statement. However, BSP said, the country’s cumulative BOP position remained at a surplus of $2.2 billion in the first two months of the year. This was a reversal from the $259 million cumulative deficit See “BOP,” A2
By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie
& Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent
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WORLD POETRY DAY Prof. Vim Nadera, award-winning poet, pioneer of poetry therapy in the Philippines, former director of the UP Institute of Creative Writing and former director of the Philippine High School for the Arts; and Prof. Jose “Butch” Dalisay Jr., award-winning novelist and poet, winner of 16 Palanca literary awards & Palanca Hall of Fame awardee, former vice president for public affairs of the University of the Philippines; are seen with Wilson Lee Flores, forum moderator, at the annual celebration of World Poetry Day at the Pandesal Forum on March 21, 2023. In a message on the occasion of 2022 World Poetry Day, Audrey Azoulay, Unesco Director-General, said: “Arranged in words, coloured with images, struck with the right meter, the power of poetry has no match. As an intimate form of expression that opens doors to others, poetry enriches the dialogue that catalyses all human progress, and is more necessary than ever in turbulent times.” NONOY LACZA
OTING 277 against three and zero abstention, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on third and final reading a bill that aims to reduce the number of jobless Filipinos by matching their education and skills to available job opportunities. The approved measure, House Bill (HB) 7370, or “An Act creating a tripartite council to address unemployment, underemployment and the job-skills mismatch problem in the country, and appropriating funds therefor.” See “Job-skills,” A2
‘LOW INCOME, LACK OF SOCIAL SUPPORT SADDEN FILIPINOS’
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OW GDP per capita and lack of social support have made the Philippines one of the least happy countries in Asean, according to the results of the latest World Happiness Report (WHR). The report, produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Center for Sustainable Development at the Columbia University’s Earth Institute, among others, ranked the Philippines 76th out of 137 countries in 2020 and 2021. No survey was conducted in the Philippines in 2022. In the region, Singapore was the topnotcher and ranked 25th overall followed by Malaysia at 55th; Thailand, 60th;
and Vietnam, 65th. Indonesia ranked below the Philippines at 84th overall. “People are judging the state of affairs by the level and distribution of well-being, both within and across generations. People have many values [like health, wealth, freedom and so on] as well as well-being. But increasingly, they think of well-being as the ultimate good, the summum bonum,” the report stated. “We suggest that the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 and beyond should put much greater operational and ethical emphasis on well-being. The role of well-being in sustainable development is already present, but
well-being should play a much more central role in global diplomacy and in international and national policies in the years to come,” it added. Based on the report, the Philippines garnered an overall score of 5.52. The country that topped the index, Finland, had an overall score of 7.8 while the country at the bottom of the index, Afghanistan, had an overall score of 1.859. The Philippines’s score can be explained by factors such as GDP per capita which accounted for 1.238 of this score followed by social support at 1.108 and the freedom to make life choices, 0.714.
Other factors were health and life expectancy which accounted for 0.286 of the Philippines’s overall score; corruption perceptions, 0.141; and generosity, 0.104. There is also a factor termed “dystopia” which accounted for 1.931 of the country’s overall score. Dystopia is an imaginary country that has the world’s least-happy people. “The purpose of establishing Dystopia is to have a benchmark against which all countries can be favorably compared [no country performs more poorly than Dystopia] in terms of each of See “WHR,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.6530 n JAPAN 0.4163 n UK 67.1084 n HK 6.9692 n CHINA 7.9455 n SINGAPORE 40.8743 n AUSTRALIA 36.7050 n EU 58.6044 n KOREA 0.0420 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.5509 Source:
BSP (21 March 2023)