BusinessWorld E-paper
May 31, 2022
THE PHILIPPINES could lose more than half of its import and export markets if it fails to ratify a free trade deal among 15 countries in the region whose economic output accounts for 30% of global trade, economic managers told the Senate on Monday.
“If we don’t join RCEP, we miss out on more than half of the Philippines export markets, and around two-thirds of the country’s import sources,” Department of Agriculture (DA) Director Bien A. Ganapin said during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on
Monday, noting that Philippine exports to Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member-countries are at 50.4% of total trade, while imports are at 67.3% of total trade.
