MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has turned upbeat on export growth this year, citing the resilience of the electronics and information technology - business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) sectors despite the ongoing pandemic.
During the Laging Handa briefing Thursday, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said while almost all countries’ exports have become vulnerable due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said the country’s exports performance last March showed encouraging results.
Philippine merchandise exports grew 31.6 percent to $6.68 billion in March from $5.08 billion in the same month last year.
For the January to March period, the country’s merchandise exports rose 7.6 percent to $17.56 billion from $16.31 billion a year ago.
“Fundamentals are solid so we believe in the strong pickup of our exports,” Lopez said.
He also said the agency expects the big dollar generating sectors such as electronics and IT-BPO to continue to do well.
“These major sectors, big dollar generators, show resilience even with the pandemic,” he said.
The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. expects total electronic exports to grow by seven percent this year.
Government data showed electronics exports went up 8.3 percent to $9.83 billion in the first quarter from $9.08 billion last year.
Meanwhile, the Information Technology Business Process Association of the Philippines is projecting a 5.5 percent growth in revenues this year and next.
Despite the lockdowns, Lopez said the government allowed the exports industry and IT-BPO firms to operate at 100 percent capacity.
To boost the country’s exports, he said the DTI continues to market the country’s products overseas.
“We talk to international stakeholders. We always make sure the needs of the export sector, their supply chains are not going to be affected,” he said.
He added the passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, which modernized the incentives system, would also provide support to the export sector.
Merchandise exports dropped 10 percent year-on-year to $63.8 billion in 2020.