Balisacan says exports will perform better in Q4

MANILA, Philippines - Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan is confident that Philippine exports will perform better in the last quarter of the year and boost full year economic growth.

Exports in September jumped nearly 16 percent to $5.85 billion from $5.06 billion a year ago.

Electronics shipments alone ballooned by 13.6 percent to $2.44 billion in September, recording the sector’s fastest growth rate since February this year. The sector accounted for 41.8 percent of the country’s total exports in September.

“The positive performance of semiconductor exports mirrored the upward trend in the global chip industry,” he said.

Other top exports in September included chemicals, other manufactures, machinery and transport equipment.

“2014 exports so far have performed better than expected,” said Balisacan, also the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

The economic planning chief expressed optimism that the export sector will contribute more to externally sourced earnings for the economy in 2015.

“As long as we do not get hit by another devastating natural catastrophe, the agriculture sector should clearly recovery thus making the agri-business contributions more buoyant,” Balisacan said.

Balisacan expressed confidence that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) will still manage to expand by six percent this year.

In the first nine months, the economy grew by an average growth of 5.8 percent, well below the full year growth target of between 6.5 and 7.5 percent. So far, the consensus is that the economy could still expand by six percent on average.

Total exports in the first nine months of the year went up 9.9 percent to $46.6 billion from a year ago.

The Philippines’ largest electronics industry group, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) revised its growth estimate for exports to 5.8 percent from five percent previously on improving demand.

The Philippines accounts for more than 10 percent of the world’s demand for semiconductor manufacturing services, including for mobile phone chips and microprocessors.