Businessmen brace for impact of ‘Maring’ on economy

THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is hopeful that the impact of storm Maring on local firms will not be as damaging, even if Metro Manila shut down for business over the past two days.

“Definitely, there is a lot of damage. Apart from agriculture, there were no trading activities over the past two days. The logistics industry has been largely affected too because of the floods and because people can’t go to work,” PCCI president Miguel B. Varela said in a phone interview.

Varela said the biggest hit by the storm among industries was the manufacturing sector in Luzon as heavy rains brought by Maring flooded areas where a lot of factories and facilities are located, including Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga and Zambales, among others.

The Calabarzon area was reportedly the hardest hit region by the torrential rains, affecting some 600,000 people in the area, a Philippine Daily Inquirer report stated.

Also badly affected were the southern parts of Metro Manila.

“I hope that the impact will not be that big considering that flood waters receded quickly and the typhoon did not really hit much of the agricultural areas. What was more affected were the manufacturing plants, in terms mostly of halted or low production. Recovery will be faster then,” Varela said.

Varela said he would have estimates on the probable impact of Maring and business closures by Friday at the latest.

Local financial markets were also bracing for a very rough ride when trading resumes Today after a three-day break.

While they were out of action other Asian emerging markets wrestled against capital flight arising from anticipated tapering of US easy money policy.

Though global investors tend to treat Asian emerging markets as one big basket, local market experts are mostly optimistic that Philippine assets—backed by better economic fundamentals compared to the Asian currency crisis on 1997—to at least fare better than their heavily battered peers.

“Offhand, the peso could be affected but I don’t expect it to be much. The story-line in other markets is negative current account and balance of payments. We don’t have those issues,” Antonio Moncupa Jr., president of East West Bank and chair of the Banker Association of the Philippines open market committee, said yesterday.

With the recent fall of asset markets in India, Indonesia and Thailand alongside the slump in Wall Street, Banco de Oro Unibank chief strategist Jonathan Ravelas said the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index may retest the 6,350 level alongside the trend of a strengthening US dollar that has bludgeoned the Indonesian rupiah and the Indian rupee.

“So far we are better off. But I am biased to see the dollar/peso (exchange rate) to test 44 levels,” Ravelas told reporters. Inquirer