There is consensus among industry leaders that the country’s export performance this year will record a negative growth.
The decline on export performance is primarily caused by the slump the semi-conductor and electronics sector has been experiencing this year, according to Export Development Council vice chairman and Philippine Exporters Conferation president Sergio Ortiz Luis.
“The most we can hope for is flat growth, but it’s hard to adjust these outlooks officially because it’s hard to see where the economy is going… One thing for sure is we will not meet our target,” he added.
The demand for electronics — the country’s main export – saw a 47.9 per cent contraction in September, prompting officials from this sector to revise their projections from an 8-12 percent growth to an overall 18 per cent contraction for the year.
Senen M. Perlada, EDC executive director, said: “We have been doing simulations of our export performance at the EDC, and we can’t find products that can compensate for the $6 billion resulting from the loss in exports sales by electronics.”
Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. President Ernesto B. Santiago concurred, adding: “In October, we are expecting our performance to be bad as well because our monthly performance has been around the $1.8-1.9-billion range … last year, we made around $2.9 billion.”
A year end recovery is not impossible.
Santiago expressed optimism for November and December, noting “our performance last year for those months are near our actual performance lately.”