SEIPI president Dan Lachica
MANILA – The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) has revised slightly upwards its industry growth outlook for this year but is still in negative territory to reflect the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
“We have upgraded our industry projection for 2020 from 15-percent contraction to -5 percent due to Covid and higher cost of operations (shuttle, logistics, etc.),” SEIPI president Dan Lachica said in an e-mail Tuesday.
Lachica said industry forecast will be better next year, assuming the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill that will be passed by the lawmakers will be favorable to industries, as well as the availability of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Our 2021 forecast is 7 percent (growth), assuming favorable CREATE outcome and availability of vaccine,” he added.
Philippine Statistics Data (PSA) data show that electronic products remained the country’s top export from January to September 2020.
Export revenues of electronic goods in the first nine months of the year reached USD26.2 billion, or 57 percent of the USD45.9-billion total exports during the period.
However, exports of the industry declined by 11.4 percent from January to September 2020 from the same period in 2019. (PNA
