PNoy economic team looks at how US debt crisis will impact PHL

President Aquino’s economic team is now studying the possible impact of the United States debt problem on the Philippine economy. “Pinag-aaralan po ng economic team kung ano ba ‘yung posibleng maging epekto nito at base doon, gagawa tayo ng hakbang," Ricky Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office said at a press briefing Monday. He said President Aquino is concerned about the US financial dilemma and discussed it with his economic team last week. “The economic team had already begun to discuss this even before the President expressed [his] concern. So they’re onboard. They anticipated what the President would want them to do," he said. The President wanted to know the possible effects of the US debt crisis and expressed concern about the rising peso and its impact on exporters, Carandang said. “He asked the team to take a look at all the possible effects of this," the Palace official added. “Ang sinasabi ni Pangulo ‘pag masyadong mabilis ‘yung pag-angat ng peso laban sa dollar, magkakaroon ng kaunting dislocation.‘Yun ang concern ni Presidente that he mentioned at the time that it was being discussed," he said. “A lower dollar means that we pay less in terms of our foreign debt. If we were paying P42 to one dollar and the exchange goes down to, say, 40 then we’re actually saving P2 per dollar," he said. The negative effect, on the other hand, is that Filipino workers in North America may think twice before sending money to the Philippines. “Kung humina ‘yung dolyares at humina ‘yung ekonomiya ng US, baka magiging mas maingat ‘yung mga kababayan natin na nakatira sa North America. Meaning, they will remit, they could remit less or if they don’t remit less, what they remit will be worth also less. So it will have an impact on consumption," he said. Carandang added that the Philippine peso is “still in pretty good shape." — VS, GMA News