NEDA exec to visit Cebu for economic talk

CEBU, Philippines - National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) acting director general and socioeconomic planning secretary Dr. Arsenio Balicasan will visit Cebu to expound on the remarkable performance of the national economy and prospects for 2013.

Even with the global economy that is still weak and unable to fully recover from the 2008 to 2009 great recession, Philippines posted a surprising 6.6 percent growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last 2012 that surpassed its Asian neighbors.

Overall, the national economic performance has improved in the last 12 years compared to the past decades.

However, it has been criticized for primarily benefitting the rich rather than bringing down the nation’s poverty level with the generation of sufficient number of jobs for Filipinos.

Along with other two speakers, Balisacan will speak at the 3rd Cebu Annual Economic Briefing and Investment Forum to be held at Cebu City Sports Club, Cebu Business Park on March 8.

Balisacan, who is also a member of the government’s economic team, is expected to outline the plans of the incumbent Aquino administration to achieve inclusive growth in his remaining three years of governance.

Before he was appointed to replace former chief Dr. Cayetano Paderanga last year, Balisacan served as the dean of the University of the Philippines - School of Economics and the director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from the Mariano Marcos State University in Ilocos Norte, a master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from UP Los Baños and a doctorate degree in Economics from the University of Hawaii.

As an academician, Balisacan’s research interests focus on poverty, inequality, agricultural and rural development, globalization and political economy of policy reforms.

He also acted as an adviser and expert in poverty, food security, agricultural and rural development, human development, impact assessment, and government issues to public chief executives and legislators, non-governmental organizations and multilateral development institutions which include the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and various agencies of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Jones Lang LaSalle-Philippines chief operating officer Lindsay Orr and Cebu Investment Promotion Center managing director Joel Mari Yu will also tackle on the pace and direction of the development of the real estate and business process outsourcing - information technology industries as the top performing sectors in the country.

For this year, the forum is hosted by Cebu Holdings Inc.

The event is organized by the Cebu Business Club in partnership with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mandaue Chamber of  Commerce and Industry and the Department of Economics of the School of Business and Economics at the University of San Carlos.

Those who are interested to attend the forum could contact Jojo Marturillas of the Cebu Business Club at 253-4411 and 253-4427 or Lanie Labor of PhilInsure at 254-6784 and 254-6785 for reservations. —/MBG (FREEMAN)