BSP sees lower deficit in BOP for 2023 at $1.6B

DOE eyes to increase electric vehicle rollout beyond mandated 5% of fleet

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday said it is eyeing to boost the share of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country beyond the mandated 5% mandatory share of EVs in public and private sector fleets as it works on the Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle (EV) Industry (CREVI), which will provide the timeframe for the mandate.

In a statement, the DOE said it will be conducting a series of nationwide public consultations from March 20 to 23.

The agenda of the public consultation include the presentation of the CREVI and three other EV-related Department Circulars —guidelines for the accreditation of EV Charging Stations (EVCs); the unbundling of the EVCs fees; and the recognition and adoption of EV standard classification on road transport for incentive eligibility.

“Through this, the DOE is pushing for an increase in the rollout of EVs in the country to 10% from the original 5% mandated under the Electric Vehicle Industry Act (EVIDA) or Republic Act No 11697,” the Energy Department said.

The RA 11697 mandates in- dustrial and commercial firms, public transport operators, national government agencies, local government units, and government-owned-and-controlled corporations to have at least 5% of their fleets to be composed of EVs, within a timeframe set in the CREVI.

Philippinemonetary authorities forecast lower deficit for the 2023 balance of payment (BOP) position on account of expected narrower trade gap and better services exports and imports, among others.

As it works on formulating the EV industry roadmap, the DOE said it is “batting for a faster and broader commercial scale rollout of EVs in the country once the CREVI is approved, as the 10% EV roll out under the clean energy scenario will be increased to 50% by 2040.”

Under the short-term period or from 2023 to 2028, the Energy Department said it targets the roll out of 2,454,200 EVs comprising cars, tricycles, motorcycles, and buses plying nationwide while 65,000 EV charging stations will be installed nationwide.

For the medium-term or from 2029 to 2034, the DOE said it will push for additional 1,851,500 EVs and 42,000 EV charging stations.

Under the long-term period or from 2034 to 2040, the agency said that 2,001,600 EVs will be added along with 40,000 EV charging stations.

In a virtual briefing on Friday, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) officer-in-charge for the Monetary Policy Sub-Sector Dennis Lapid said the latest BOP projection is at USD1.6 billion deficit, better than the previous forecast of USD5.4 billion deficit.

“The overall outlook or picture for the external environment, particularly for external economic activity, continues to suggest that global GDP (gross domestic prod- uct) will continue to be subdued, particularly for this year,” he said.

In 2022, the country registered a BOP deficit of USD7.3 billion, a reversal from the USD1.3 billion surplus in the previous year.

Based on the latest projection, the current account (CA) is seen to post a lower deficit of USD17.1 billion from USD19.9 billion previously.

Goods exports and imports projections were kept at 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively. However, services exports are seen to rise by 17 percent from 15 percent and the services imports by 11 percent from 8 percent in the previous BOP forecasting round in the last quarter of 2022.

Inflows from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are seen to post a slower growth of 3 percent from 4 percent previously and Lapid attributed this to projections of slower growth in countries where the OFWs are based.

He explained that these projections are based largely on the global growth forecast of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which sees a subdued output for this year.