CLARK FREEPORT – “Final transition year from the pandemic towards full economic recovery.”
Thus, Pampanga Chamber of Business and Industry stalwart Rene Romero summed up his outlook for 2023 at the KapiHann forum of the Pampanga Press Club at Swissotel-Clark on Jan. 4.
Romero, however, premised his bright prospects for the new year on government actions “hand-in-hand” with the private sector.
“Problems will linger in 2023 – inflation is high, food security is threatened, labor suffers,” he noted. “For instance, how far will the P450 daily minimum wage go when a kilo of onions sells at P600 to P700?”
Romero, chairman and president of the Romac Group of Companies, noted that he has long been advocating for a P1,000 to P1,500 minimum daily wage to “empower” the workers.
“While there are some who expressed fears that businesses may close shop with such daily wage rate, there are more who have proven resiliency not only to adapt to but even excel even with increases in daily wages, even in times of disasters,” he said, citing the experience of Pampanga in the aftermath of the Mount Pinatubo eruptions.
“With purchasing power, workers will have the capacity to spend – dudurut la ring pera (money moves around), dumurut ya ing ekonomiya (the economy will turn around,” he posited, even as he admitted that he is not an economist.
More government spending in “truly developmental programs” will help tremendously in strengthening the economy, he noted.
While the gross domestic product is projected to grow 6.5% to 7.5% — “others put it at a conservative 5.5%” – Romero said it is still incumbent for government to institute programs to mitigate the current situation.
He cited the need for more research and development in agriculture to ensure food security.
“This should come in the forms of developing resilient seedlings adapting to climate change, and providing farmers with sustained inputs like fertilizer, irrigation, technical support from soil preparation to marketing the produce on the part of government,” Romero suggested.
All projections though, according to this successful entrepreneur of over half a century, “will go off track with disruptions coming from poor governance like that airport systems glitch.”
