Top PVB official remains bullish on economy

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s economy has the potential of expanding by 6.5 percent next year, if among others, the projected power shortage is addressed and the 2015 national budget is passed to release new funds for infrastructure development.

Philippine Veterans Bank chairman Roberto F. de Ocampo also said that further support for the Public-Private Partnership Center could come in the form of amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law.

Speaking before stakeholders of the Center for Philippine Futuristics Studies and Management Inc., De Ocampo said that the projected 6.5-percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate next year is possible if certain conditions are met.

“First, lawmakers should address the maximum projected shortfall in electricity supply in the Luzon grid from March to July 2015,” he said.

De Ocampo explained that the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) would hopefully compensate business establishments that use their own standby generation facilities but emphasized that the government should avoid repeating the mistakes of the past energy crisis.

He added that energy security is critical to sustain the growth of industries, which would generate jobs.

The former finance secretary pointed out that the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) placed the Philippines in the upper middle tile for competitiveness.

“Now, we have to maintain a good ranking in the competitive index, but then that can all be dampened by the energy crisis thus in fact rear its ugly head in full force,” he said.

De Ocampo furthermore sees both the timely passing of the National Budget for 2015 to ramp up infrastructure spending and the easing on economic restriction on foreign participation as a good sign for the country to achieve a 6.5-percent growth rate.

“We are still lagging behind our ASEAN neighbors despite the growth of our foreign direct investments (FDIs), it’s only 44 percent of what Vietnam gets, and there’s only one way for us to be able to expand the manufacturing and other sectors to be able to create jobs and that is to also get investments from abroad in order to come up with those manufacturing and other industries that will create jobs,” he noted.

De Ocampo, who is also the immediate past president of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), wants to see the enactment next year of a competitive law as part of the country’s commitment to foster a culture of fair competition in ASEAN.

He also hopes that a bill rationalizing fiscal incentives to move in Congress, adding that these incentives could be estimated to be the equivalent of one to two percent of GDP.

Finally, the bank chairman suggested that Congress pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law in the first quarter of 2015.

“Lasting peace should bring development to the land of promise which we always thought was Mindanao and according to the Bangsamoro Development Plan, GDP growth is targeted to reach six to eight percent in end of 2016 from an average regional GDP growth of 2.7 percent in the ARMM area from 2009-2013,” he said.