Trade with the European Union remains brisk, with the Philippines enjoying over €1 billion in trade surplus after exports to the EU hit €7.2 billion against imports of €6.1 billion in the first 11 months of 2021.
“We see that the new Philippine trade figures are approaching their pre-pandemic levels. This is a positive indication that trade relations between the EU and Philippines remain strong, amid the global economic crisis,” said EU delegation in Manila head of trade and economic affairs Maurizio Cellini at the launch of Doing Business in the Philippines (DBIP) 2022 Publication Friday.
He said the Philippines enjoyed almost €2 billion in preferential access trade to the European market under the EU Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) during the period, with the GSP utilization rate in the range of 75 percent.
The Philippines is eager to resume talks on the new proposed preferential trade access agreement that will replace the GDP and GSP+ trade schemes with the block, but the EU Parliament is yet to finalize the requirements for joining, said Cellini.