Export council to disclose fund regulations by May

The Export Development Council (EDC) is set to release the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the much awaited Export Development Fund (EDF) in the first week of May this year.

This was announced by EDC private sector representative Allan Suarez, in an interview.

This means that after the first week of May this year, export industry associations will be able to get a share of the P280 million exports fund.

The P280 million fresh funds for exporters is sourced out from different government agencies such as Department of Budget (P100 million), DTI (P100 million), and other agencies like the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP).

According to Suarez, this fund is the government’s answer to exporters’ request for assistance in terms of promotion.

Earlier Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) secretary Peter Favila said that the EDF is not a direct financing grant, but it will be used in funding programs geared towards export promotions, such as international marketing to promote the image of the Philippines as high-value source of export goods.

Suarez said as early as now, EDC had already received a letter of intent or proposal from different export industry associations.

The IRR that will be crafted by EDC would determine the minimum and maximum assistance to be availed of by an applying export organization in the purpose of attending or joining trade fairs abroad.

Cebu exporters group, through PhilExport-Cebu had been very vocal to ask the Philippine government, through a possible grant of subsidized international promotion campaigns.

Exporters here claimed that because of huge foreign exchange losses, most companies are cash-strapped in their promotional budget, especially that Cebu is now hitting the sophisticated or high-end market around the world.