A total of 23 projects, with an overall tentative cost of at least P66.33 billion, has been added to the government’s pipeline of public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

According to documents from the PPP Center shared with reporters late last week, as of October 16, the government has lined up 173 projects valued at P3.17 trillion.

The updated list saw an increase in terms of the number of projects versus the July 23 report where there are 164 projects in the pipeline.

The total estimated cost, however, is slightly lower versus the P3.24 trillion in July.

The change in the number of projects in the pipeline is due to the addition of projects, particularly unsolicited proposals endorsed by the PPP Center to implementing agencies for their decision to proceed with detailed evaluation or rejection of the same, projects included in the list of PPP projects submitted by implementing agencies to the PPP Center and project updates received through PPP Center’s engagement with various implementing agencies; as well as the delisting of PPP projects.

According to the document, those added to the list were comprised of 10 national projects and 13 local projects.

These include the P160-million Food and Drug License and Clearance System, P7.21 billion Combined 17 megawatt (MW) Upper Sampaloc and 8MW Lower Sampaloc Hydroelectric Power Project, P29.82 billion Design Build Finance Operate the Air Navigation Services (Air Traffic Service and Air Navigation Service) of the Philippines, P360-million Santiago City Hemodialysis Center, P730-million Operations and Maintenance of Pampanga Dialysis Centers Project, P60-million Operation and Maintenance of Palayan City Hospital, P320-million Philippine Retirement Agency Digitalization Project, P8.45 billion Iloilo Bulk Water Supply Project, P1.47- billion San Juan — Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino, P790-million South-Luzon Integrated Terminal Exchange Project, P70-million Mariano Marcos State University 2MWp Solar PV System, P4.24 billion Marinduque Decarbonization Project, P800  million Comprehensive Provincial Waste Management and Carbon Capture System Utilizing Bio-Methanation No-Burn Project, P23-million Dasmariñas City Digitalized Traffic Enforcement System, P10-million GMA Cavite Digitalized Traffic Enforcement, P9.6 billion Electronic Invoicing and Tax Engine Systems Project, P20-million Butuan City Digitalized Traffic Enforcement and P2.2 billion Nuclear Medicine Research and Innovation Center.

The costs for the following five added projects are yet to be determined: Subdivision and Housing Program in Barangay Ordovilla and Bethel, Victoria Oriental Mindoro, Cavite Bulk Water Supply Project, Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project Phase III, Poro Point Seaport Modernization Project and Department of Education-Senate Teacher’s City.

Meanwhile, the following 12 projects were delisted following coordination with the appropriate implementing agencies: P94.07 billion Metro Cebu Expressway, P390- million Road Transport IT Infrastructure Project Phase II, P4.34 billion Financing, Upgrade, Design and Development, and Operation and Maintenance of the Philippine Identification System, P180-million First Phase: Underground Cabling Project P45.15 billion Development of the Former Manila Seedling Site Project and the P20-million Smart City ICT Project in New Clark City.

The following projects, with costs yet to be determined, were also removed: Pangasinan-Nueva Ecija Expressway, Dingalan-Capas-Botolan Expressway, Mindoro-Batangas Super Bridge, the Pacific Eastern Seaboard Expressway Infanta – Atimonan Segment, City College Canteen / Cafeteria Concession and Criminology Firing Range.

Meanwhile, other movements in the list of projects include the Philippine Economic Zone Authority Central System Project, which was removed from the pipeline database following its award and the signing of the concession agreement on September 3 as the project is now reflected in the PPP Center database of projects under implementation with an estimated project cost of P250 million.

The La Mesa Parkways Project, with an estimated cost of P7.8 billion, was also removed from the pipeline database following information received from the implementing agency and as verified by PPP Center — Project Monitoring Division the project is under implementation and is eflected in the PPP Center database of projects under implementation under the name North Luzon East Expressway (La Mesa Parkways Project) with an estimated project cost of P15.1 billion.

The Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) has kept its growth forecasts for the Philippines for this year and next.

According to the latest quarterly update of the Asean+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO) released yesterday, the Philippines is projected to grow by 6.1 percent this year and 6.3 percent next year.

The estimates are similar to its July 2024 quarterly update.

AMRO’s latest estimate for the Philippines’ growth this year is at the lower end of the government’s growth assumption of six to seven percent.

Meanwhile, the projection for 2025 falls below the Philippine government’s estimated band of 6.5 to 7.5 percent.

In a virtual briefing yesterday, AMRO chief economist Hoe Ee Khor said the estimates were kept mainly due to the expectation that government investment spending will be higher this year, together with services exports. 

“So like most of the other countries, Philippines…last year, interest rate was pretty high. The government has cut interest rate by 25 basis point, and it’s indicated for another cut later this month,” Khor said.

“We know that 6.1 percent is (at the low end of) the government’s target, but it’s still among the strongest in the region,” he added.

Only Vietnam is expected to outpace the growth projections for the Philippines, for this year and next.

The inflation expectations for the Philippines were also kept at 3.3 percent for 2024 and 3.1 percent for 2025.

“…the (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) governor (Eli Semolina) himself indicated that there’s potential for further cut of 25 basis point, but he’s going to wait until and look at the numbers on inflation,” Khor said.

“So far, inflation has behaved pretty well. It spiked up in July, and then it came back down in August, and our expectation is continue to trend down and for the whole year, our forecast for inflation is 3.3 percent,” he added.

The manufacturing sector recorded a robust expansion in September, posting its best performance since mid-2022, according to a report released yesterday.

The headline S&P Global Philippines manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance, was recorded at 53.7 in September, up from 51.2 in August, and the highest since June 2022, indicating a solid improvement in the health of the Philippines manufacturing sector.

According to the latest report, the uptick in the headline index was driven by solid and matching rates of expansion in both new orders and output.

Anecdotal evidence pointed to improving underlying demand trends, new client wins and the successful launch of new products.

“Overall new orders increased at a much faster pace, despite demand for Filipino goods taking dropping notably in international markets. Consequently, manufacturers boosted production at a strong rate,” Maryam Baluch, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said.

That said, the report said Filipino goods did not fare well internationally. 

A second consecutive monthly decline in new export orders was recorded in September, with the latest downturn the most severe in over four years.

“While weak international demand and supply chain issues will act as headwinds, robust domestic demand is expected to drive growth. Moreover, increasing production needs and heightened confidence among manufacturers led to increased hiring and purchasing activity in September, the latter rising at the strongest pace since January 2023,” Baluch said.

“Price pressures also rose due to supplier charge increases and recent weather events affecting raw material costs. However, inflationary pressures remain

historically subdued which supports the central bank’s recent decision to ease monetary policy,” Baluch added. 

The national government’s outstanding debt stood at P15.55 trillion as of the end of August 2024, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said.

In its latest report, the BTr said this reflected a 0.9 percent decrease from the end-July 2024 level of P15.69 trillion, primarily due to the revaluation effect of peso appreciation and the net repayment of external debt. 

Year-on-year, the national government’s debt is still higher by 8.4 percent.

Of the overall debt stock, 69.4 percent are domestic securities while 30.6 percent are external obligations.

For the month of August, the domestic debt level was recorded at P10.79 trillion, inching up by 0.4 percent from the previous month. 

The increase stemmed from the net issuance of government securities amounting to P45.05 billion, albeit partially offset by the P6.59 billion downward revaluation effect of peso appreciation on US-dollar-denominated domestic securities, the BTr said.

From the previous year’s level, the national government’s domestic debt has increased by 10.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the national government’s external debt amounted to P4.76 trillion, a decrease of 3.6 percent compared with the end of July 2024 level. 

The BTr said that the decline was brought about mainly by peso appreciation, which trimmed P194.9 billion, as well as net repayments of P4.17 billion, although stronger third-currencies added P20.82 billion in valuation effects. 

Year-on-year, the national government’s external debt rose by 4.4 percent.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has declared full support in enforcing the recently signed Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act and has committed to deploy all the necessary personnel for the implementation of the measure.

In a statement yesterday, the BIR said Republic Act (R.A.) No. 12022 will be added to the different enforcement activities of the agency against illicit trade.

“The BIR will continue its fight against agricultural smuggling, whether that involve(s) the smuggling of tobacco, cigarettes, vape or other agricultural products. We have conducted nationwide raids. We have raided festivals. We raided warehouses even at night. We will not stop until we eradicate all forms of illicit trade,” said BIR commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. 

R.A. 12022 provides that smuggled tobacco includes tobacco that is not compliant with the prevailing processes and requirements of the BIR.

This covers unmanufactured tobacco and manufactured tobacco. The latter refers to cigarettes, cigars, heated tobacco products, vape or any product containing tobacco that is intended for smoking, heating, puffing, oral or nasal use.

The sale of tobacco products at a price 30 percent below the daily price index raises the presumption that acts of smuggling have been committed. 

The mere possession of smuggled agricultural products in any warehouse, vessel, transport and other storage areas will be considered as prima facie evidence of agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage. 

The penalty to be imposed against a person who commits agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage could reach that of life imprisonment and a fine five times the value of the agricultural product. It is a non-bailable offense.

“The BIR will deploy all revenuers needed to fully enforce the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act. The BIR supports the stance of the national government in protecting the agriculture sector,” Lumagui said.

He added:” Agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage is an attack against our financial system. It destroys the livelihood of farmers. It contributes to the higher price of basic commodities. It is tax evasion of the highest order.”