Thread by @newswatchplusph

THREAD: The National Economic and Development Authority holds a briefing on economic liberalization bills and updates to the National Action Plan Phase 4 (NAP4) Scorecard.

Updates by our digital producer @pplmanuel

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Karl Chua begins the briefing by recapping the economy's full-year 5.6% growth in 2021, which is a bit above the adjusted 5-5.5% target band for the year.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua notes passage of the bills amending the Public Services Act, Foreign Investments Act, and Retail Trade Liberalization Act is crucial to the country's recovery.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua presents the country's rankings in terms of foreign investment restrictiveness, logistics, connection speeds; notes PH can "do better."

@pplmanuel LOOK: Key features of the measure introducing amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act,
among the measures economic managers have sought the passage of.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua presents potential investments from certain countries: These are some of the benefits we expect to receive because of the amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Law.

@pplmanuel Now known as Republic Act (RA) No. 11595, the measure amending the Retail Trade Liberalization law was signed into law last month.

@pplmanuel LOOK: Differences in public services to be allowed foreign ownership under House Bill No. 78 and Senate Bill No. 2904, which aim to amend the Public Services Act.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua says they're batting for opening more public services to foreign ownership but imposing safeguard restrictions instead of maintaining blanket ownership restrictions.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua presents efforts from nearby countries to further open public services like telcos, road transport to foreign ownership in recent years.

@pplmanuel Citing World Bank data, NEDA chief Chua reports rise in output, employment once foreign ownership restrictions in the telco, transpo sectors are eased. These could also spill over to manufacturing.

@pplmanuel NEDA Usec. Rosemarie Edillon provides updates on the National Action Plan Phase 4 and NAP4 Scorecard.

@pplmanuel NEDA Usec. Edillon: The goal really is to manage COVID-19 towards a healthy, resilient Philippines.

She also presents the NAP phases, with previous phases spanning from March 2020 to March 2021. Phase 4 began July last year, with sustaining the new normal starting this 2022.

@pplmanuel NEDA Usec. Edillon reminds the no vax, no ride policy in Metro Manila's public transport will no longer be in place starting tomorrow with the region easing to Alert Level 2 this Feb. 1-15.

The policy is only in place when NCR is under Alert Level 3 or higher.

@pplmanuel LOOK: Indicators for the NAP4 Scorecard, which is composed of sub-indexes infection management, vaccine rollout, and socioeconomic recovery.

@pplmanuel The country gets the ff. scores for the NAP4 scorecard: 2.74/3 for infection management, 2.20/3 for vaccine rollout.

No socioeconomic recovery score yet with flight data, one of its indicators, unavailable.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua on achieving RTA amendments' goals amid rise in e-commerce: We're opening up to provide a variety of goods, services. While some can be purchased through online service, some are better consumed in person when the pandemic is over.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua clarifies proposed PSA amendment barring participation of state-owned enterprises covers all nations: The idea here is they're much more linked to foreign governments and we want to ensure the country's interests are protected.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua on pres'l adviser Concepcion's suggestion to remove the alert level system: We should begin this process of changing this paradigm from the pandemic to an endemic mindset. This proposal would actually merit some serious thinking.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua on suggestions for next admin: We have to tackle 2 major issues. First is economic recovery. We expect to recover to pre-pandemic level this quarter but this means we're 2 years behind our growth path.

@pplmanuel NEDA chief Chua: Second is sustaining recovery. Areas we should prioritize: smarter infrastructure, regional equity of budget allocation, build on Innovation Act, prioritize climate change.