Trade reforms needed in PHL before ASEAN single market – ADB

The Philippines needs to achieve more reforms in trade to better participate in the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Asian Development Bank (ADB) representatives said in a live chat event on Thursday.

The AEC is the economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations economies into a single market in 2015.

“The AEC aims to present ASEAN to the outside world as one market in which cross-border movements will be seamless. This will positively affect supply chain investment to ASEAN. However, behind-the-border reforms that address trade costs should complement the process, and this is where the targets in dismantling non-tariff barriers within AEC are critical,” said ADB Office of Regional Economic Integration lead economist Jayant Menon.

Menon said that “a lot” can still be achieved through domestic reforms in the Philippines to “ramp up trade.”

“A lot of behind-the-border issues still impact on trade costs significantly, and require customs reform and reducing red tape, and associated rent-seeking behavior. Improving infrastructure is badly needed in the Philippines, as in many other countries, and this can play a big part in ramping up trade through reducing transport costs,” he said.

The Philippines should also reconsider constitutionally enforced limits on foreign ownership if it wants to join multilateral trade agreements like the free-trade Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), he added.

Office of Regional Economic Integration senior director Ramesh Subramaniam said that the AEC is “more comprehensive than just trade, and when fully operational could have considerable benefits as risks of contagion from integrated markets are managed.” — BM, GMA News