P-Noy set to release P100-million fund for export sector

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is set to release P100 million in export support fund (ESF) to help the export industry cope with various pressures like the strong peso, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) said.

Philexport President Sergio Ortiz Luis said President Aquino has agreed to fund the ESF this year and next year because the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has no budget for it.

“This just shows how the President is supporting the export industry,” Ortiz Luis said in a briefing.

Ortiz Luis said that the DTI budget for 2012 may already be ready that is why the President is again willing to give another P100 million next year. During the next budget, Ortiz Luis said the DTI may include money for the ESF.

Ortiz Luis said that in spite of the decline in May exports, they are not changing their export target for 2011. “It is only a modest 10-percent growth every year and we expect higher figures starting the third quarter.”

Ortiz Luis explained that the industry has suffered because of the great disaster in East Japan, the unrest in the Middle East and the economic downturn in Greece and the US.

On the upside, chief executives from top UK companies cited investment opportunities in the Philippine BPO industry during a recent executive briefing on Philippine outsourcing in London.

Under the PEDP, Philippine services exports which include IT and BPO are expected to increase their market share to 24 percent by 2016.

The briefing, aimed at further promoting Philippine outsourcing to CEOs of UK corporations, was organized by the founding members of the British Philippine Outsourcing Council and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

“We see higher growth and more opportunities for the BPO industry in markets such as the UK. Over the past decade, the Philippine BPO industry has grown to achieve $11-billion revenues and employs close to 526,000 people. These numbers show that the industry is a major contributor to exports,” said Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo.

The United Kingdom is one the Philippines’ top markets in the European Union. Philippine exports to the UK amounted to $395 million in 2010. Industry data also showed total investments from the UK amounting to $146 million last year.