By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, Sept. 9 (PNA) — The devaluation of Chinese yuan will have no significant impact on the Philippine economy, BPI Securities Corp. Chief Executive Officer Michael Angelo D. Oyson said in a briefing on Wednesday.
“We’re not reliant on China in terms of contribution to GDP (gross domestic product),” said Oyson.
He, however, said that the weaker Chinese currency would affect the country’s exports as China was a major export destination for Philippine products.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show that merchandise exports to China in the first half of 2015 fell by 32 percent to USD 3.07 billion from USD 4.5 billion in the same period last year, making it as the country’s third largest export market.
China was dislodged by the United States of America while Japan remained the country’s top export destination.
The BPI Securities chief executive also said that despite the dropping exports of goods, the Philippine GDP would not be significantly hurt as net merchandise exports’ contribution to GDP was low.
“We’re very domestic-driven economy. Our upside will come from government expenditure, from PPPs (public-private partnership), and capital formational coming from property sector,” he said.
Oyson added that government spending was seen at a higher level during the first half of an election year than the latter part.
“That’s positive for consumption, positive for stock market,” he said. (PNA)