The phase one deal signed by the United States and China clears the uncertainties in the trade and investment environment that had beset the Philippines and other economies globally.
With this, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez sees the electronics sector bouncing back from a slowdown brought by the two-year trade row of the world’s largest and most powerful economies.
“Any deal would be better than all these uncertainties. It is good to ease the tension between the two. (There will be) some kind of optimism in the air,” Lopez said in an interview in Makati City yesterday.
He said the business community would view this signing as the “right direction to remove uncertainties.”
Lopez said the past two years proved the Philippines is resilient.
“We were least affected relative to other countries because we have low exports to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio of about 15 percent,” he said.
Lopez added that independently, the Philippines had a good relationship with the US and with China that despite the global slowdown, its exports to these countries grew 9 to 10 products.
He, however, admitted slowdown in demand had affected electronics exports since the Philippines is a part of the global value chain of major industry players.
Electronics account for about 55 percent of the country’s merchandise exports.
“There was a slowdown in electronics… what used to grow by 6 percent has now grown to just 3 percent. That part hopefully would improve with this signing that is taking place,” Lopez said.
