Neda: PH ready for Asean integration in 2015

THE Philippines, especially Mindanao, is ready for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) integration next year, a government policy-making body said.

In a recently held media forum on updates of the region’s second-quarter performance, the National Economic and Development Authority in northern Mindanao’s (Neda-10) assessment of region 10 showed a rising economic status.

These results show the region and the country’s readiness for the upcoming Asean integration.

“We are ready. And the integration promises advantages and benefits for us. Philippines have showed massive improvement that is why we are being branded by positive names such as the new Tiger of Asia,” Engr. Cecilio Clarete, chief economic development specialist of NEDA-10 said.

According to Clarete, the country’s willingness to compete and welcome the integration can be seen in the changes and preparations done.

“Some schools have discussed on changing their opening of classes to fit it with other countries, and seminars and trainings are being held,” he added.

However, Neda said the country can’t expect immediate integration results.

“Europe, with a good economy took 35 years to attain what it is now. For the Philippines, we don’t know, what we can be sure of is that the integration will bring us comparative advantage. It will erase barriers that we can use to our advantage,” Clarete added.

The Philippines’ strengths lie in its good macroeconomic environment, political stability, trainable, English-speaking workers and one of the countries who have the youngest workforce, according to Neda-10.

However, the country is also experiencing an ongoing power crisis, inadequate infrastructure, corruption and poor governance, tolerated smuggling and weak industry competitiveness.

“Threats that we might encounter is global uncertainty and economic slowdown in the developed world,” Clarete said.

Yet, given that China has higher cost of labor, Neda thinks the Philippines has many potential markets in the Asean, as it has an improving debt situation, many potential investment sectors, among others.

“We can do something about this. We can address the high cost of energy and logistics, the lack of quality transportation, reform the Bureau of Customs, local and national laws should coincide, and the ‘bahala na, okay ra na’ character,” he added.

The Philippines got a score of 6 out of 10 in the recent Global Competitiveness Index indicating that the country is well positioned to seize the opportunities as a member of an integrated community. –Lenesse Marie Libres, Sun Star