MANILA, Philippines?The Philippines and Asia will not feel the full impact of the global economic crisis until next year, said Finance Secretary Margarito Teves.

?There?s a time lag in terms of the impact of a global economic slowdown. The time lag will affect Asia by next year more than this year,? he said.

When the crunch hits home, the effects on the real economy could come in the form of a slowdown in business activity and slower export growth, Teves said.

To cushion the impact, the government should spend more on infrastructure, food and agriculture to pump-prime the economy, said Teves who spoke to reporters after President Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the Credit Information Systems Act on Friday.

?There should be a combination of accelerated implementation of the infrastructure program, making sure this infrastructure spending is done in a larger way during the first semester of the year to take advantage of the good weather, and continued investment in food and agriculture,? he said.

The President has endorsed a P100-billion fund to finance the upgrading of infrastructure like roads and bridges to generate jobs and pump-prime the economy.

Citing forecasts by analysts, Teves said the United States and Europe and the rest of the world would recover from the crisis by the second half of next year.

?How quickly it (the recovery) depends on the kind of measures that are put in, and how effective they are in the US and Europe and how quickly we?re able to put in our reforms in Asia and Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),? he said.

The US and European countries have mounted costly bailouts to save their beleaguered financial systems, but these have failed to ease the anxiety in the global markets. Stocks fell sharply in Europe and Asia last week.

During the signing ceremony, the President asked Congress to legislate measures that would strengthen the Philippine Stock Exchange against the ?global upheaval.?

She mentioned the PSE proposals to extend for another year the documentary stamp exemption for shares traded through the PSE, and to reduce by half the stock transaction tax to make the exchange more globally competitive.