Govt to privatize most railway O&Ms–Neda
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HE national government is keen on privatizing most of the management, operation, and maintenance of the country’s railways, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). In a virtual roundtable with the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) on Wednesday, Neda chief and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said railway privatization has been included in the list of Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs) to be undertaken by the administration. Balisacan earlier said the Neda Board approved P9 trillion worth of infrastructure flagship projects to be undertaken in the medium
term. The list covers 194 projects, mostly focused on physical connectivity and water. “Those are currently in the IFPs, in the infrastructure flagship project, the privatization, the PPP arrangements of the management, maintenance and operations of many of these rail systems is on top of our agenda. It will happen,” Balisacan said in response to a question raised by former Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson. Balisacan stressed that IFPs are projects that will be prioritized by the administration when it comes to annual budget preparation. These will also undergo “expedited approval processes consistent with current legal frameworks.”
At least 45 of these projects will be financed through PPPs. Balisacan said the government’s limited fiscal space will make PPPs a mode of financing to complement the government’s priorities in the medium term. Currently, Balisacan said 97 PPP projects, collectively worth about P2 trillion, are already in the pipeline. “Pursuing PPPs will allow the government to harness the private sector’s financial and technological resources, the ability to respond to market risks and opportunities in an agile manner, and the capacity to manage large-scale projects,” Balisacan said. Infrastructure is a cornerstone of the administration’s plans to
boost economic growth and generate jobs. Balisacan said the government aims to spend 5 to 6 percent of GDP between 2023 and 2028. For this year, the government intends to spend P1.248 trillion on infrastructure or 5.2 percent of GDP; and in 2024, the plan is to spend P1.37 trillion or 5.1 percent of GDP. In 2025, the government aims to spend P1.43 trillion on infrastructure projects while in 2026, the administration will spend P1.57 trillion. In both years, infrastructure spending will account for 5 percent of GDP. In the last two years of the ad-
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ANING pent-up demand, high domestic inflation and rising interest rates are among the key economic challenges that the Philippines faces this year, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). In a virtual roundtable discussion with the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) on Wednesday, Neda chief and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said efforts to temper food and energy prices are considered “urgent imperatives” to sustain economic growth. A huge 70 percent of the country’s GDP is accounted for by consumption, making the Philippine C A
DOMESTIC HUB A porter pushes luggage carts at the NAIA Terminal 2 in Pasay City. The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) is planning to convert the terminal into an exclusively domestic airport by July, MIAA Senior Assistant General Manager Bryan Co said. Terminal 2 was originally designed in the 1990s to handle domestic travel. NONIE REYES
WB FLAGS LOW SUPPORT ‘Game over’ for POGOs?
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OUNG Filipinos bore the brunt of pandemic job losses but not all of them received any support during this time, according to the latest report released by the World Bank. During the launch of the report “The Philippine Jobs Report: Shaping a Better Future for the Filipino Workforce,” World Bank Senior Economist Yoonyoung Cho stressed that 3.7 million young Filipinos aged 15 to 24 were not working or in school or training and 2 million more were either unemployed or underemployed. In the report, the World Bank said 36 percent of the working age population was out of the labor force, and nearly 61 percent of the inactive population were neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET).
“Existing [unemployment] programs may cover only a fraction of this vulnerable population and youth group, only a few thousand beneficiaries. These fall short of the needs of the market. A few large programs exist but they sometimes do provide support only during a very short period of time, or one time support and transfer,” Cho said. The World Bank said the country’s problems in the labor market such as high youth unemployment continued even after the lockdowns. Apart from the lack of jobs, the World Bank also said the working poverty rate was higher for them even before the pandemic in 2019. In 2022, youth employment remained C A
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AYING “it’s game over for the POGO industry,” the head of the Senate Ways and Means committee on Wednesday endorsed for plenary approval his panel’s recommendation for a permanent and total ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs). Senator Win Gatchalian sought the immediate closure of POGOs in the country to, in his words, help maintain peace and order and sustain economic growth. He said in his sponsorship of the report, rendered after four hearings, that clearly, “the costs of POGOs outweigh their benefits.”
The Senate Committee on Ways and Means conducted public hearings on the socioeconomic benefits of maintaining POGO operations in the country following numerous reports of crime attributed to the industry, notably the abduction of POGO players, the prostitution of illegally trafficked Asian women used to “entertain” POGO workers, and the bribery schemes involving corrupt immigration personnel expediting the entry of illegal workers. Gatchalian serves as chairman of the committee. Specifically, he urged for “the adoption of a resolution urging the executive department to immediC A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 54.3530 ■ JAPAN 0.4104 ■ UK 66.4248 ■ HK 6.9289 ■ SINGAPORE 40.6469 ■ AUSTRALIA 36.2480 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 14.4679 ■ EU 58.5436 ■ KOREA 0.0417 ■ CHINA 7.9015 Source: BSP (March 22, 2023)