NEDA's Balisacan warns of greater risks from El Niño, global uncertainties

The adverse impact of El Niño and the uncertainties in the global market pose significant risks in agriculture and manufacturing despite the current positive outlook assigned to these sectors, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said on Wednesday. 

 

"The government must encourage more value-adding activities, especially those that increase the linkage between agriculture and manufacturing. Production would need to diversify further to areas and subsectors, for this to be realized, an efficient transport and logistics network should be put in place," the Cabinet official said in a statement. 

 

The Philippines needs to find ways to improve the business climate, diversify its range of products and address the long-standing issues in power security, he added.

 

"We need to enhance the ability of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) to participate in regional and global markets, in line with the ASEAN economic integration, and pursue diversification of export products and markets, given uncertainties in global demand. This is vital to sustain the global competitiveness of the country and survive the low demand from the country’s top export markets," Balisacan noted.

 

According to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the manufacturing sector's output slightly increased in April but the outlook remains upbeat with expectations of robust private consumption and public spending. 

 

Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI), the NEDA said the manufacturing sector’s Volume of Production Index (VoPI) slightly grew by 1.4 percent in April 2015, but lower than the 16.1-percent expansion in March and the 10.8-percent growth a year earlier. 

 

Meanwhile, the Value of Production (VaPI) contracted by 4.2 percent from a 9.7-percent growth in the previous month and the 10.9-percent expansion in April 2014. 

 

"Despite the April 2015 numbers, investors remain confident of the growth prospects. Proof of this is the recent expansion of Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc.'s facilities in San Fernando, Cebu to boost productive capacity in anticipation of higher demand for construction materials," Balisacan said. – Trisha Macas/VS/ELR, GMA News