Canadian firm to invest $2-M for bamboo venture in DavNor PH foreign reserves slip to $101.3B at end-May

The national government payments of its foreign currency-denominated liabilities and downward adjustments in the value of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) gold holdings reduced the country’s foreign reserves to USD101.3 billion at end-May 2023.

BSP data released on Wednesday showed that the latest gross international reserves (GIR) are lower than the USD101.8 billion as of last April.

However, it said the country’s foreign reserves “represent a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.”

International standard for adequate GIR level is about three to four months import cover of a country.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said the latest GIR level is among the highest in a year, buoyed by the sustained rise in structural US dollar inflows such as the remittances from overseas Filipino workers, revenues of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, and the lower global crude oil prices that reduced the country’s trade deficit.

Canadian firm Pure Life Carbon is pouring $2 million (P112 million) for a bamboo project in Davao del Norte, which is set to start this year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Davao revealed Wednesday.

Ricafort said structural dollar inflows are expected to continue to back the country’s foreign reserves.

Additional boost are the foreign direct investments, increase in foreign tourist arrivals, and portfolio investments or those placed in the local equity market.

“Thus, still relatively high GIR at USD101.3 billion could still strengthen the country’s external position, which is a key pillar for the country’s continued favorable credit ratings for the country straight year,” he added. (PNA)

Pure Life Carbon’s processing plant would be established at the Anflo Industrial Estate in Panabo City, while the 10,000-hectare bamboo plantation would be put up in partnership with indigenous communities within their ancestral domain areas in Davao del Norte.

DTI-Davao said in its monthly report that the project would help stir economic activities not only in the province but also in neighboring areas, creating employment opportunities for the local workforce and generating domestic and export sales.

On its website, Pure Life Carbon claims to be a “clean-tech manufacturing company with a focus on the environment and food security.” It aims to “create clean technologies that protect and heal the environment while enhancing food production and yields.”

Jenny Grace M. Mendoza, DTIDavao information officer, said in an interview on Wednesday that bamboo is one of the priority industries in the region, along with coffee, coconut, cacao, wearable and home styles, processed fruits and nuts, rubber, and oil palm.

She said the local industry in Davao del Norte is already thriving with small players producing FCANADIAN, A3