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27 January 2012 (Friday)
ANTI-POVERTY
UN:
Shift to a green economy could reduce poverty
A SHIFT to low-carbon, resource-efficient green economy
and promoting ecotourism, fisheries and transport would help boost economic
growth and reduce world poverty, according to a United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) report released
on Wednesday in Manila. The ecological health and economic productivity of
marine and coastal ecosystems that are on the decline around the globe, could be boosted by shifting to a more sustainable
economic approach that taps their natural potential—from generating renewable
energy and promoting ecotourism, to sustainable fisheries and transport, said
the report, titled Green Economy in a Blue World. It was launched during the
Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections and the Intergovernmental Review of
the Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment
(GPA). Read
more...
GENERAL
ECONOMY
Government
underspending, exports decline resulted in 3.6 to 4%
growth last year: NEDA
Due to the government’s underspending
and the lackluster growth in exports, the Philippine economy may have grown
below its historical average by posting a growth of only 3.6 percent to 4
percent in 2011. National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Assistant Director General Ruperto
Majuca said the economy may have also posted a growth
of around above 3.2 percent to a growth slightly below 5 percent in the fourth
quarter. “Overall, we expect full year GDP growth to hover around 3.6 percent
to 4 percent. However, we underscore that we make these forecasts—both
quarterly and yearly—amid an uncertain economic environment, as many of the
economic variables are in a state of a flux, and it is difficult to say with
certainty where things would eventually settle,” Majuca
said. The Neda official said gross domestic product
(GDP) growth last year may have been dragged by the lackluster performance of
the agriculture sector which only posted a growth of 2.34 percent due to the
typhoon damage incurred by the sector due to Typhoons Pedring,
Quiel and Sendong. Read
more...
GOVERNANCE
DTI
Seeking P1-B Five-Year Fund To Boost Recovery and
Competitiveness
The Department of Trade and Industry is proposing a
P1-billion National Export Development and Competitiveness Fund for the next
five years to push the country’s export sector to support the recovery of the
electronics sector and sustain the growth momentum in the non-electronics
exports. Senen Perlada,
director of the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion, an attached agency of the
DTI, said that Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo is recommending
this five-year fund allocation to the Cabinet economic cluster. “We are trying
to get P1 billion over the next five years to support our exports sector,” said
Perlada, who is executive director of the Export
Development Council. The export programs to be funded would include export
promotion, capacity building, policies and studies. Read
more...
Government
not moving fast enough
The government only managed to start implementing about 55
percent of the 471 policy recommendations that the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC)
forwarded to Malacañang a year ago to spur economic
development and boost investment inflows.
“It means that we are going forward but not fast enough,” John Forbes,
senior adviser of the American Chamber of Commerce said. Earlier, the JFC said
investors were beginning to take notice of the Aquino administration’s policy
reforms and predicted that if all the recommended changes were followed, the
country could attract as much as $75 billion in foreign direct investments.In December 2010, the JFC submitted to Malacañang the “Arangkada 2010
Moving Twice as Fast” document containing policy recommendations and reforms
that will catalyze the growth of the “Seven Big Winner Sectors.” These are
agribusiness, business-process outsourcing (BPO), creative industries,
logistics, manufacturing, mining, and tourism, medical travel and retirement. Read
more...
SMALL AND
MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
DOST-7
pushes MSME productivity improvement
Micro, small and medium-scale enterprises in the Visayas (MSMEs) are strongly
urged by the Department of Science and Technology in Central Visayas (DoST-7) to improve their productivity and
creativity if they are to become highly competitive in both local and foreign
markets.DoST-7 director Rene Burt Llanto said many MSMEs in the region have yet to avail themselves of DoST’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program
(Setup), which is designed to help MSMEs in adopting
innovations to improve their operations. “Innovation is the key to sustaining
one’s business today. Without this, businesses will never improve and remain
stagnant,” Llanto said.
He said DoST-7 can assist about a hundred MSMEs each year, but only from 30 to 40 such firms avail of
the Setup program annually. As part of efforts to promote the program, DoST 7 launched recently a product catalogue featuring MSMEs that employed the program to help improve operations.
Read
more...
OTHERS
BIMP-EAGA
adopts vital strategic pillar
Ministers of the
‘Very
clear’ mining policy up next month
Foreign investors and businessmen were assured on
Wednesday that “a very clear policy” on mining will be issued next month. President Aquino, in announcing his
assurances, said he hoped the policy will put an end to the regulatory
conflicts at the national and local government levels over mining policies. Mr.
Aquino told businessmen at a Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) forum on Thursday
that the committee he created to review the mining industry and come up with policy
recommendations is close to concluding its task. He said the committee,
consisting of experts from the Cabinet, has already submitted a preliminary
report that is now being circulated to the different departments for their
comments. “I think the middle of February will be an opportune time to finish
all their inputs and we will come up with a very clear policy with regards to
the mining industry not later than the end of February,” the President said at
the JFC’s Arangkada 2010
First Anniversary Assessment forum at the Marriott Hotel. Read
more...
SWS: Belts of poor continue
to tighten
Filipinos are lowering their standards of living back to
where they were when President Aquino first assumed office one-and-a-half years
ago, the Dec. 3-7 Social Weather Stations survey revealed. The
survey, which had 1,200 respondents, showed that the self-rated poverty
threshold or monthly budget that a respondent thinks his family needs to live
decently has dropped. According to the survey, the average Metro Manila
resident believes that he now needs only P10,000 a
month in order to live decently. The poverty threshold last September, based on
the perception of the respondents, should be P16,000.
In
US,
Philippines discuss increased military cooperation
Senior