Saturday, May 5, 2012

Economic Issue #2


Speed up reforms, World Bank tells PH

Says cutting poverty rate a vital goal

By: 



High power rates and limited access to financing for small enterprises are among the structural problems that the Philippine government should address so that economic growth can translate into poverty reduction, the World Bank said on Monday.
In its latest quarterly report on the Philippines, the World Bank said the country had achieved low inflation, a sustained economic growth, a declining debt burden, a stable banking sector and a comfortable level of foreign exchange reserves.
But the country should work on graduating from merely achieving and sustaining macroeconomic stability to spreading prosperity to most Filipinos, the multilateral agency said.
“The government has done a really good job in achieving macroeconomic stability. But there are structural impediments that have to be addressed … to achieve a more inclusive growth and to reduce poverty at a faster pace,” Karl Kendrick Chua, World Bank country economist for the Philippines, said at a press conference.
Besides high power rates and lack of financing for small enterprises, Chua enumerated other impediments to poverty reduction—unpredictable regulations, uneven playing field for businesses in terms of taxation, high cost of and a tedious process in starting a business, and limited access to education and skills training.
Cut power rates
Chua said the high cost of electricity in the Philippines was one of the reasons it was losing out in the competition to attract foreign investments.
“There should be measures to lower power rates,” Chua said.
He said the cost of electricity was one of the major considerations of businesses in deciding whether to invest in a country.
Loans for poor
Awash in cash, the banking system should help in efforts to reduce poverty by extending more loans designed for the poor, Chua said.
“Policies to ensure affordable access to finance micro and small enterprises are needed to spur job creation,” the World Bank said in the report.
Problems related to credit access involve the high value of collateral required by banks and interest rates that micro enterprises cannot afford to pay.
Skills training
Another way to help the poor is to invest in skills training, which can give them the chance to improve their ability to get better-quality and thus higher-paying jobs, according to the bank.
“Moving to higher value-added production would require improvements in the supply and quality of skills,” it said.
The World Bank suggested that the government invest more in strengthening the capacity of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority so that it can better achieve its mandate of helping increase employment through skills training.
The bank also cited the need for the government to partner with the private sector in improving the quality of graduates. The partnership can help narrow the gap between what employers need and what the skills of graduates are.
K-12 program
The World Bank stressed the importance of ensuring that the government successfully implement the K-12 program, which is aimed at helping improve the competitiveness of the country’s labor force.
The multilateral agency said the K-12 program, which extends the length of primary and secondary education from 10 to 12 years and requires kindergarten education, would help make the Philippine education system comparable with global standards.
Level tax field
Better skills will in turn attract more investments as multinational companies shift from countries such as China where costs are rising, Chua said.
He said the government was also advised to rationalize the tax system by withdrawing incentives enjoyed by some enterprises and by reducing the 30-percent income tax rate to align it with much lower rates in other countries.
He said a level playing field in taxation was needed to avoid turning off businesses.
The World Bank economist said starting up a business was much more tedious in the Philippines compared with other emerging economies, putting the country at a disadvantage in attracting job-generating foreign investments.
The bank suggested more focus on key reform areas such as boosting public financial management, increasing tax revenues and enhancing competitiveness through better regulation. It also called for addressing infrastructure bottlenecks.
Global slowdown
“In a scenario of a lingering global slowdown, domestic demand, in particular investments and government spending, will have to play a bigger role in achieving the country’s growth targets for 2012 and beyond,” Chua said.
The report said the global economic slowdown may affect employment in the electronics sector, which accounts for half a million jobs and indirectly supports several hundred thousand other jobs.
The World Bank is keeping its growth projection for the Philippines at 4.2 percent for this year (up from 3.7 percent last year) and 5 percent for next year, saying such rates are decent and comparable with other emerging markets.
Nonetheless, it said poverty remained a serious challenge for the Philippines.
Although the country enjoys favorable macroeconomic fundamentals, the structural problems make it difficult for poor people to uplift their situation, said Rogier van den Brink, the lead economist of the World Bank.
“[Poor] Filipinos still have difficulty accumulating wealth. For instance, it is difficult for people in the rural areas to get land and for [micro and small enterprises] to access credit,” Van den Brink said at the press conference.
“The bottlenecks have to be removed,” he added.
Despite a continually growing economy, the number of poor Filipinos stood at 26.5 percent of the population in 2009, up from 26.4 percent in 2006 and 24.4 percent in 2003.
Window of opportunity
World Bank country director Motoo Konishi noted the progress the government had achieved but said it needed to act faster to get more broad-based support from policymakers, civil society and the private sector to benefit the poor.
“A huge window of opportunity currently exists for speeding up critical reforms,” Konishi said.
“Besides having strong macroeconomic fundamentals, the country is benefiting from political stability and a popular government that is seen by many as strongly committed to improving governance and reducing poverty.” With a report from AP

http://business.inquirer.net/50079/speed-up-reforms-world-bank-tells-ph
Realization:

The country have been facing financial crisis for years. We have been undergoing unemployment, power and water crisis, higher level of foreign exchange, increasing debts and tax rate, poverty, corruption and many more. This can be reduced or possibly eliminated through what Chua (World Bank country economist for the Philippines) said in the conference they had. He enumerated impediments like poverty reduction—unpredictable regulations, uneven playing field for businesses in terms of taxation, high cost of and a tedious process in starting a business, and limited access to education and skills training. If we can also follow   what he said in the upper part, we can actually grow and be more competitive to foreign countries. We can keep up the pace in global living and maintain our continuous growth towards economic growth. It is possible to eradicate some or most of our economic problems and address the state's problems gradually until it will be overcome. We can do this follow what Chua said. Actually we can also add up more information in overcoming economic crisis here in our country as a fellow student and economist in the country. Thanks to Karl Kendrick Chua, he identified and prescribes some major economic problems in the Philippines so that we will be aware and put efforts to reduce the problems in our country.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Economic Issue #1

No double incentives for power projects

MANILA, Philippines - Under the 2012 Investment Priorities Plan, which will be released this month, power projects that are already granted a guarantee of rate return by the Energy Regulatory Commission will no longer be granted income tax holiday by the Board of Investments (BOI) to prevent “double dipping” of incentives.
 “The power sector is an important sector. It’s an industry that we want to have more capacity because we still lack low power cost . But there should be no double-dipping of incentives. If you already get a guaranteed rate from the ERC then you have already gotten your targeted rate. Then you should no longer be entitled to an income tax holiday,” said Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo.
Domingo said the implementing rules and regulations of the 2012 IPP would contain the guidelines in providing incentives to the power sector.
In the 2011 IPP, the following industries have been identified as priority areas: agriculture/agribusiness and fishery; creative industries; shipbuilding, mass housing; infrastructure; Public-Private Partnership projects; research and development; green projects; motor vehicles; strategic projects, and disaster prevention, mitigation and recovery projects.
Incentives for renewable energy investments were retained in the mandatory list.
Business sectors listed in the IPP are entitled to tax and fiscal incentives, particularly income tax holidays. Projects are approved based on net value added, job generation capacity and multiplier effect.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=66&articleId=798319

Realization:
Without double incentives to power companies, there will be a lack of power supply because power companies have no other income to produce more power for its society than its own supply. Power companies will not be motivated to find and produce more power for the people and they will only stick on their current situation and still, there is a lower chance for improvement for power supply in the designated place their assigned with. This will affect greatly to the community towards economic growth. There will be slower production of labor and underutilized equipments that will happen due to limited power supply. People will be affected on their daily lives because of the economic issue.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

A new leader

Living on another chapter, an Atenean way. That is what we Ateneans are preparing right now. Another chapter of change for a success! But before we gain success, we must first encounter change. To put change in inertia, there must be a leader who will drive us into success. That is what we are anticipating right now. A leader who is fresh and new with full of hopes and desires to lead the young Ateneans into success. A leader who will change the trash system of the old "republic" of the university.

As mentioned before, a new leader must emerge to change the way of life here in Ateneo. We, as Ateneans, must provide a feedback on what kind of needs we are demanding right now. One of the feedback we are demanding is we want to concentrate on main subjects and practice our major. No offence, but we don't want to be delayed by some "far out" subject that is really far connected to every one's course. PE for example, how can the students of an engineering course apply that kind of subject in the field? I don't believe that they will be working on the field while jumping with the use of "arnis" or sticks! I'm sure they will be downgraded by the society and it will only destroy their life. I know there are many subjects out there that are far from our field. But I believe that if the new president can convince us why there are subjects like that by the use of his expertise, then we can say that he is a worthy president of the university. 

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Party Partey!


Waiting for the big night of getting wild, having fun, and eating was only minutes away. I was wearing on my long gray pants, a black and gray striped polo shirt and a black Chucks shoes. After that,  I heard my cellphone ring. I immediately went to go answer the phone and answered the call; that made me extremely happy because I know that my friends in CE(Civil Engineering) are waiting for me to go to the party. The party was held inside the World Palace KTV bar near Saint Paul II College. When I got there, I could smell the delicious food and the wild atmosphere inside the bar. I couldn't wait and alas, I started to eat!. We got wild and noisy but there is an exception, I was becoming a kill joy because I didn't drink and dance for some reason. But its okay because we had a great time together with the party celebrant which is a girl. She is my friend in CE and I'm very thankful that she invited me even though we are now far(in academic status) from each other. It's obvious that you didn't know her but I will not post her name here for privacy. But I'm very happy that she didn't forgot about me and still invited me in her Debut party. Happy 18th birthday to you! God bless!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Forever DotA!

Who doesn't know the game named DotA? Well, almost everyone knows that! The game DotA was really an epic game! It's unique because not like any other game, you can do almost anything you want! For example, you can do trash talk inside the game or outside by directly saying it to the person! You can also get mixed emotions by playing the game! Either you can be happy, tired, cheerful, angry and many more! It depends on the situation of the game. But playing DotA can make us wild and noisy! That's what the game is good about!

What is special about DotA anyways? Allot of people especially girls are curious about what makes the game special. DotA(Defense of the Ancients) is very popular because it hooks up most of the people(especially men) to play in the gaming world. Well, it's very hard if someone explains why but I can give you some major ideas of what is it. As I said before, DotA can make the men gain mixed emotions. We know that there is a nature that only boys have. For example: in real life, sometimes, a  man wants to hurt someone especially if he is angry. So the connection of the game is that in DotA, we can put your anger inside the game and let it flow in a peaceful way! That is why  most players are trash talkers but they doesn't end up fighting physically to each other! Well, not most of the time are peaceful but that's one good point of playing DotA! DotA can also make us satisfy or more satisfying than doing any other things! It's so very satisfying that it can replace most of the man's desires of this world! DotA can even perish diseases that is scientifically proven by me and DotA players! It can also replace a girlfriend! Wow! What an influencial power of DotA! But becareful not to become addict because if you will, then it is up to you how to control it! Woo! I love DotA forever!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Happy Holidays!


Yes! Its Christmas time again and we are now in the month of the best holiday of the year. Christmas is celebrated in most countries around the globe! As we all know it, Christmas has both a strong impact in our life either in oneself or in a whole group of people. Christmas is celebrated in modern, traditional or both. It has a certain aura or feeling that you usually don’t feel at any other time of the year. It usually forms within us, an aura of love, affection, concern and unity among the people. At events like this, I observe that we have the qualities of becoming generous and thoughtfulness towards people. It forms a sense of bonding and attachment. We observe that people from abroad or other place comes home for Christmas. The sense of Christmas is a time of family bonding and thanksgiving. It is really a time that we unite as one. I'm going to spend this Christmas with my family in places where we will become happy. I want to enjoy this Christmas as much as I want and I hope all of the people will also enjoy their Christmas together with their love ones. Most importantly, we must not forget and love our Savior for he is the one who resembles these Christmas. Merry Christmas and happy Holidays to all of you! God bless us all. 

Friday, December 3, 2010

Tombstone Piledriver!

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a superstar with lots of fans screaming at you? I bet you do! Do you remember when you are still a child and you usually play wrestling using your favorite wrestler and his signature moves? Well, that is truly yes! Then here's your chance to become a part of one of the most anticipated raw-action-entertainment live on via satellite TV called - World Wrestling Entertainment(WWE)! Wow! That's amazing!


I remembered when I was still a kid that I usually play wrestling with my friends every time we meet. We really love wrestling at that time and my favorite wrestler is named - The Undertaker! The Undertaker is a dead man who fights in the ring and he's feared by all wrestlers of WWE! I love the Undertaker because of the way he act, the way he dress, and his signature move called "Tombstone Piledriver"! It's a monstrous move that can easily crush every opponent that will make the Undertaker become unstoppable! Every time he uses that move after the chokeslam, the fans are screaming and it also makes me scream too! Wow! What a strong wrestler! I am happy that I experienced the fun of wrestling even though this is just a reminiscence of my childhood days.