Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry opposes protectionist stance by RP

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines should allow more foreign products to enter the market to help badly hit nations recover from the global financial crisis, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said.

In a position paper, the PCCI expressed its opposition for the call of other sectors to push local products first and institute import duties to protect locally made goods.

Members of the group said that they are against protectionism because an increase in tariff rates and the importation of other protectionist measures during the Great Depression showed that these kinds of policies only lead to the further depression of economies and thus, to a global economic slump.

PCCI said that they do not believe that protectionism will help in the recovery of the global economy.

“While some countries have signified their intention to protect their domestic industries and sectors from the crisis, history has shown that this will only lead to retaliatory measures from others, which would only further undermine global trade,” the group said.

As such, the PCCI stressed that a more open trading system, which is the main agenda of the Doha Round, is one of the best avenues to help address the ongoing global economic crisis.

“PCCI considers the principles of openness, transparency, non-discrimination, and fairness espoused by the Doha Round to be important drivers in stimulating the growth of a battered global economy,” the paper said.

At the same time, PCCI welcomed the release of the December 2008 negotiating drafts for agriculture and non-agriculture market access negotiations (NAMA) even if some of the provisions are not favorable to the Philippines.

On agriculture products, PCCI said that there is a need to increase the percentage of tariff lines that will be accorded no tariff cuts.

The group said that the five percent proposed number of tariff lines in the negotiating text is not sufficient to cover all Philippine agriculture sectors, and would thus lead to the domestic sectors/ stakeholders to “fight out” each other.

Moreover, PCCI said that the proposed average tariff cut is too high and asked the negotiators to fight for a rate that is lower than the proposed 11 percent. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio, Philippine Star