DBCC board wants export goal raised

The executive technical board of the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC-ETB) will recommend raising the growth target this year for merchandise exports. The agency now expects exports to grow by 8–10 percent this year from an earlier forecast of 7–9 percent, Finance data showed. Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran told reporters on Tuesday he and other members of the DBCC-ETB met last week. He added that the upgrade had taken into consideration the 42.5 percent export surge in January, and not the continued growth in February reported on Tuesday. The agency also proposed to change the foreign exchange rate projection this year to P46-P48 per dollar from P46-P49. The other macroeconomic targets, he said, would remain unchanged. He said there was no date yet for the DBCC meeting on the proposals. — BusinessWorld