The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a forward-looking trade agreement between member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its free trade agreement (FTA) partners (AFPs) namely Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand (i.e., non-ASEAN...

A general review of the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA or the Agreement) was originally scheduled in December 2011. Accordingly, it was deemed that an assessment on how the Agreement affected the Philippine economy after three years of implementation would be helpful not...

The paper aims to assess and determine the capacity-building needs required to liberalize trade in services in the Philippines. Through the ASEAN Framework on the Trade in Services, the Philippines has committed to liberalize various sectors including air transport, maritime transport,...

The paper looks at the role of services in the economy and discusses why competitive services are necessary for achieving inclusive growth. An overview of Philippine services sectors is first presented highlighting their economic contribution as well as performance. This is followed by a...

APEC 2015 provides an opportunity for the Philippines to advance its economic interests in services and contribute to regional integration by focusing on global value chains (GVCs) which are now believed to account for more than 50 percent of global trade. This paper looks at the GVC phenomenon...

Services are critical inputs in manufacturing production, and this is likely to intensify with the advent of new technologies. Based on the trade in value-added data of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the share of services embodied in Philippine manufacturing exports...

Services trade is expected to be the new driver of global trade growing further in the coming years with the adoption of new technologies and rising incomes, among others. To some extent, the Philippines has already gained a foothold having achieved significant success in the BPO sector....

Barriers to trade and investment stifle economic expansion. The impacts are most profound when they are applied to the services sector given its role as "the glue that binds all sectors together". This report examines the various regulatory requirements and legal obstacles that limit or...

An efficient regulatory framework is a pre-requisite for developing a services market that supports competitiveness and offers opportunities for export diversification. Creating such a framework requires a comprehensive understanding of the laws, regulations, and practices affecting trade and...