Corbat, who is in the Philippines for his first official visit as CEO, is scheduled to meet top clients and engage employees as well as meet with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

In the Philippines, Corbat said Citi’s strategy would be to make sure that his bank would continue to support clients and “help local companies grow globally and support the champions of tomorrow.”

Last year, Citi advised local food manufacturer Monde Nissin on its $830-million purchase of UK-based meat substitute product company Quorn Foods. “Since 2015, we have also helped raise over $5 billion for the country and its companies from global capital markets, including a couple of international bond offerings for the Republic of the Philippines,” Corbat said in an e-mail interview with the Inquirer.

He pointed out that consumer banking and wealth management businesses were also market leaders in the Philippines. He added that Citi had the leading credit card business based on value of spending.

“Looking around the globe, the world is and will remain an uneven place, Corbat said. Along with such an uneven global growth, the banker sees sustained low commodity prices and a slow trajectory for US rate increases, similar in many respects to 2015.

The Citi chief said that in Asia, the likes of South Korea, China and the Philippines were each different in terms of growth and outlook. Whether it’s Asia, Latin America, Africa, he said one would need a local perspective because all those economies were in various stages of growth, recovery and change.

“Clearly, in some emerging markets, the precipitous drop in commodities and in particular oil, indicates real challenges where you have emerging economies built and structured to have 4 to 6 percent growth rates and a high dependence on the export of commodities, especially oil, to fund government programmemes,” Corbat said.

In its announcement, issued last month, the department said the domestic production of pork and piglets was sufficient for local consumption and there was even a surplus in Vientiane so meat could be supplied to the provinces.

The department urged all livestock and fisheries sections around the country, as well as pork producers and suppliers, to impose the ruling.

The illegal importation of pork and piglets affects pig producers and pig breeders, especially in Vientiane, and makes it difficult to balance meat supply.

The department said the ban would not lead to an unreasonable hike in the price of pork.

The announcement directed all provincial livestock and fisheries sections to strengthen veterinary inspections at borders and carry out strict checks to prevent the import of pork products.

People who violate the ruling will be fined by the authorities, while any pork or piglets that are imported illegally will be disposed of.

The announcement did not specify how long the suspension would last, but said those involved in the industry and members of the public should watch for announcements on when the ban might be lifted.

Pork is one of several items whose price is controlled and the government has set a maximum price to prevent traders from increasing their prices unreasonably.

Imported pork that is sold at a lower price than Lao pork causes problems for domestic pork suppliers and piglet producers when their sales drop.

World Trade Organisation (WTO) directives state that when imports have a severe impact on the local economy, a country can postpone imports but should set a deadline on the suspension unless there is no limit to the ban, according to the Department of Foreign Trade Policy under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Many Lao farmers and suppliers have struggled to repay their bank loans after their business slumped because the market was flooded with imports.

Statistics from the Livestock and Fisheries Department show that 3 million pigs were raised across the country in 2013, a growth rate of 6 percent that year. The department says these numbers and a strengthening of the industry enable Laos to produce a surplus of pork for sale.

The multimarket Internet Scams study aimed to gain a better understanding of the more common online rackets by polling 400 users aged 18 to 65 in four countries – Malaysia, India, Singapore and Thailand. Of these, Malaysia unfortunately tops the list with 46 per cent of respondents saying they had been victims of Internet scams, followed closely by Thailand at 43 per cent.

Worryingly, this figure could be just the tip of the iceberg as a further 46 per cent of Malaysian respondents – all of whom classified themselves as Internet users averaging nearly 10 hours per day on the Web – said they knew a friend or family member who has been scammed online.

“This survey is a good barometer on Internet scams in Malaysia, and areas that should be addressed,” said Telenor Group’s social responsibility head Ola Jo Tandre.

Hot button issue

Online safety is a growing concern with more than half of those surveyed (54 per cent) stating they are “very concerned” with online scams – that’s more than those concerned with mugging (45 per cent) and stalking (42 per cent).

The study also found that one in five people have been victims of Internet auction and online dating scams, and one in 10 had their Facebook accounts hacked.

The largest percentage of Malaysian scam victims had fallen for the fraudulent “work from home” scheme – a scam where users are either fooled into paying someone online to help them start a business, or undertake work but never receive payment.

Many online shoppers also reported getting swindled by unscrupulous sellers – almost a quarter had experienced Internet auction fraud, where they purchase an item online and never receive it.

And finally, Malaysians were also victims of online dating scams, where a scammer creates a fake profile on an online dating site to elicit money.

Of those who have been targeted by online scams in Malaysia, six in 10 have had their wallets hit, with the average financial loss sustained per person about 7,050 ringgit (US$1,730).

However, the study notes that the amount of money lost by Malaysians is significantly smaller in comparison to other surveyed nations – the regional average for those who incurred financial losses due to scams is a whopping 41,870 ringgit.

Despite these staggering figures, Malaysians on the whole acknowledge the benefits of a readily available Internet with 90 per cent agreeing that the Internet has improved their lives, and 81 per cent attributing strengthened relationships with friends and family due to the Net.

With so much at stake, creating awareness and educating Web surfers is paramount to prevent more from falling for online scams.

Staying safe online

Though the danger – and repercussions – of online scams are very real, it is relatively simple to avoid falling prey to them. It may seem old news to more experienced users, but since so many still fall prey to online scams, these tips bear repeating:

1. Delete suspicious and untrustworthy e-mail messages.

2. Ignore advertisements that appear “too good to be true”.

3. Always update your anti-malware software.

4. Research scams online.

5. Disseminate information and share preventive tips with friends and family via social media.

“We hope the findings from this digital consumer study will encourage all Malaysians to be proactive in educating themselves to stay safe online, so they can enjoy the internet’s opportunities,” says Tandre.

The poll by Reach, the government feedback unit, found that Singaporeans were worried about the slowdown in the economy and whether this would mean poorer job prospects for them here.

Rising fears over a slowing economy come as the labour market has started to show signs of weakness.

Last year, more workers lost their jobs amid weaker economic conditions. A total of 15,580 workers were laid off in 2015, the fifth consecutive year of rising redundancies, according to data from the Manpower Ministry.

The economy is expected to grow by between 1 per cent and 3 per cent this year, with economists expecting the slowdown to hit companies hard.

Respondents to the exercise, which saw Reach collect some 3,600 forms of input, also wanted the government to take a closer look at older workers.

About 86 per cent of the feedback was given directly or face-to-face to Reach. The rest was delivered through online channels.

Middle-aged workers also wanted new schemes to help workers affected by the slowdown to learn new skills and move into fresh industries.

Older workers were also worried about their income stagnating, even as job opportunities waned, noted Reach.

With one eye on the budget, respondents suggested implementing measures aimed at helping companies tide over the fall in business prospects.

Some wanted more generous tax reliefs, while others suggested cuts in the goods and services tax, property tax and fuel tax.

Reach chairman Sam Tan said he was happy to see Singaporeans coming forward to share their views directly with the government.

“We hear Singaporeans’ concerns about the slowing down of the economy, employability as well as the lack of job security,” said Tan.

“The government will continue to equip Singaporeans with the right skills to stay relevant in a fast changing world, so that they can secure better jobs and better pay.”

For baker Samson Lee, 43, keeping his job is his top priority.

Lee, who works in a bakery in Yishun, said that with companies considering automation, he fears his skills as a baker will become redundant.

“The government says we have to learn new things and get a new job. But it is hard to go for training when I have teenagers to feed and send to school. Where am I to find the time?” he said.

The budget will be delivered by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Thursday from 3:30pm.

It will be broadcast live on television and radio. Those planning to watch it online can do so on the official Singapore Budget website or through the mobile application.

Leading the review is the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippine Central Bank), which is looking at better ways of tracking the flow of money into the Philippines, after the laundering through the country’s financial system of US$81 million stolen by computer hackers from the American accounts of the central bank of Bangladesh last month.

The review is taking a look at the role that the black market possibly played in transferring the $81 million from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch on Jupiter Street in Makati City, where the hackers had wired it, and transferring the dirty money to other banks and casinos.

Industry sources said the BSP had asked the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) to suggest measures to better regulate the foreign exchange sector.

A BAP committee tasked to look into the matter met last week and decided to recommend an increase in the amount of foreign exchange that banks could sell to residents without prior BSP approval from $120,000 to $2 million.

“The BSP requires banks to ask customers for documents to sell dollars over $120,000 per day. If you allow banks to have a higher limit, and hopefully open it up without limit, corporations and the public in need of dollars need not buy from the black market,” one banker said.

The BAP has long been proposing to increase the threshold for foreign exchange transactions without prior approval, but after the RCBC scandal bankers themselves are looking to raise the daily limit to $2 million.

“We believe the bulk of the black market [or] money service broker deals are in that level, but [it’s] best if they leave the amount open to prevent deals from going underground,” the banker said.

According to industry estimates, 85 per cent of foreign exchange transactions in the Philippines are conducted outside the banking system.

But foreign exchange and money-changing services outside the banking system are not illegal.

They are required to be registered and are also covered by the antimoney laundering law like the banks.

Some argue that they need to be part of the entire ecosystem to grease the financial system.

But to prevent foreign exchange deals that are really meant to go underground, some bankers suggest the tightening of regulations for money changers.

In a statement, the Trade Union of the Philippines (TUCP) said on Sunday the value of the daily minimum wage levels nationwide dipped by an average of 96.95 pesos (US$2) a day or 2,520 pesos ($54) a month — an amount that could have bought them extra food or paid their utility bills.

Citing data released on February 12 by the National Wages and Productivity Commission, TUCP said the real value of the P481 nominal daily minimum wage in the 17 cities and municipalities in Metro Manila, for example, was 364.39 pesos a day since January this year.

The nominal value fell by 116 pesos a day or 3,016 pesos monthly, added the group.

“The lost value of the daily wage can buy them a kilo of imported, first class, deliciously fragrant rice and three variant of pagpag food for one good meal the entire family have not eaten for years. But if we look at the entire value lost in a month, it can cover for house rent, or water and electricity, or tuition fees,” said TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay on Sunday.

Tanjusay noted that real wage was salary in terms of the amount of goods and services that could be bought.

He also pointed out that in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the current capacity of daily nominal minimum wage of 250 pesos to buy goods and pay for services in the region was only 157.43 pesos, meaning that the nominal value fell by 92.57 pesos a day or 2,406.82 pesos a month.

“The difference between wage and cost of goods and services is shown in the recent government survey showing a combined 10.348 million unemployed and underemployed workers dissatisfied with their salary because of the rising costs of services and the increasing prices of commodities,” said Tanjusay.

The March 2016 Labour Force Survey showed that out of the 40 million employed Filipinos, seven million were underemployed while 2.46 million were jobless, he said.

“The painful implication is that there are almost eight million working Filipinos who do not progress because they cannot even afford the minimum standard daily cost of living valued at 21.28 pesos for each member of family of five,” said Tanjusay.

The group called on the government to make growth more inclusive by “equitably sharing” the country’s wealth through consistent implementation of labour laws, stronger enforcement and regulation of prices of goods and cost of services.

US$1 = 46.35 pesos

Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh said that with an ambitious goal of achieving a GDP growth rate of 7 per cent to 8 per cent set in the Socio-economic Development Strategy in the 2011-20 period, the Southeast Asian country must shift its economic growth model from extensive to intensive, and the core issue in the transition process was improving labour productivity.

According to Nguyen Quoc Viet from the Vietnam National University’s University of Economics and Business, limitations of an extensive economic growth model which are based on the expansion of the quantity of inputs such as capital, labour, and resources, were hindering the implementation of economic stimulus policies.

Viet wrote in a story published on bnews.com that the capital now contributed around 60 per cent to GDP growth while total factor productivity (TFP) contributed about 25 per cent, compared to the rate of 50 per cent in developed economies.

An analysis by the General Statistics Office (GSO) said that labour productivity of Vietnam remained lower than other countries in the region and was uneven between industries. The statistics office said that the gaps between labour productivity based on purchasing power parity in 2005 of Vietnam were widened during 1994 to 2013 period with Asean+4 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia by between 50 per cent, 43 per cent, 17 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.

The Statistics office said that this was due to the slow economic growth model transition, with labour in the farming sector accounting for a large percentage with low productivity.

According to Nguyen Thi Huong, Director of GSO’s Agricultural Statistics, many labour-intensive industries such as the farming sector had low added value, resulting in low productivity.

The 12th National Party Congress’s documents also pointed out problems of the Vietnamese economy. There was heavy dependence on investments for growth, low-skilled labour, modest application of science and technology, and slow improvement in productivity.

Improving labour productivity and growth quality were the two most important issues for Vietnam with regard to macroeconomic stability, economic efficiency and sustainable development, experts said.

“Increasing labour productivity is the only way to reach a GDP per capita between US$15,000 and $18,000 by 2035,” Vinh said.

The TFP of Vietnam must be increased to around 35 per cent to enable the country to fulfil its goals by 2020.

An economic expert said that one solution to enhancing labour productivity was shifting to sectors with high content of science and technology and high added value from sectors such as support, IT and processing.

Developing the private economic sector was also important to drive the development of a skilled labour market and improve management capacity, which would contribute to boosting productivity.

Christine Largarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, at a meeting with students of the National Economics University last week urged Vietnam to boost labour productivity, adding that local SOEs and private companies currently have very low productivity, which was only about one-fifth of that of foreign-invested firms.

Pham Thi Minh Uyen, from the Trade University, said based on the theory of the middle-income trap of Japanese economist Kenichi Ohno Vietnam was now stuck in a low middle-income trap.

Per capita income of Vietnam surpassed US$1,000 in 2008 (currently about $2,000) so the country is now classified as a low middle-income country, according to the criteria of the World Bank.

Experts have said that Vietnam relies too heavily on extracted resources, monoculture exports, subsistence agriculture and foreign aid.

Traditional industries such as mining and agriculture, which have the most potential, remain small.

Without strong reform, especially if Vietnam does not resolve the issue of corruption, it will be difficult for the country to escape from the low middle-income trap, they say.

Vo Tri Hao, of HCM City University of Economics, said that the capital, labour and land markets had developed slowly, as well as the reform of State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Many small SOEs have been equitised or privatised, but large SOEs were reorganised into economic groups and turned into interest groups. These are protected and enjoy privileges such as priority access to capital, land and investment information, according to Hao.

Meanwhile, private enterprises, especially SMEs, find it difficult to access capital and land to build production facilities.

The distribution of resources for public investment is also distorted by corruption and interest groups, he added.

Meanwhile, according to Hao, many economists have said there were too many incentives for FDI businesses, and that foreign firms had not cooperated with domestic businesses, failing to transfer technology to local companies.

As most Vietnamese enterprises are small, their participation in the global supply chain is limited.

Only 36 per cent of domestic firms have been able to join the world’s production network while the percentage is 60 per cent in Malaysia and Thailand.

Economic experts have underscored the need for the country to speed up reform to fuel economic growth and integrate into the world economy.

Scholars researching economies similar to Vietnam also said that Indonesia and Bangladesh faced the same issues.

Challenges

Vietnam continues to cope with challenges such as the inefficiency of State-run enterprises and public investment.

Speaking at the event, Nguyen Duc Thanh, of Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said a major challenge was to retain high economic growth while ensuring environmental and social sustainability.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would enable Vietnam to increase exports to other Pacific Rim countries, including the US, which is one of Vietnam’s biggest export markets, he said.

The TPP countries account for 28 per cent of the world’s trade and 37 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).

He added that the TPP and the Vietnam-EU FTA would create big opportunities for Vietnam but also put pressure on the country to boost reform.

However, whether the country can make the most of these opportunities would depend on its own efforts, he said.

Around 21 per cent of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam take part in the global supply chain, compared to 30 per cent in Thailand and 46 per cent in Malaysia.

“This is why Vietnamese SMEs benefit little from foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in terms of technology transfer and productivity improvement,” Hao said.

Thanh said that Vietnam had drawn up a clear roadmap for reform and that it had resources for reform but lacked strong determination.

“Time waits for no one and opportunities will slip away soon in this rapidly changing world. We must take action right now,” he said.

Most speakers agreed that the new FTAs would bring opportunities for Vietnam to reform institutions and build a model for a market-oriented economy.

Dang Quang Vinh, of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said Vietnam would have to face many challenges when the Vietnam-EU FTA takes effect.

Such challenges include the restructuring of SOEs, Government procurement, institutional reforms, geographical indications, and transparency and investor protection.

He said institutional reforms were pivotal to improve the business environment and the legal system, and that Vietnam must respect intellectual property rights, restructure SOEs, remove subsidies and foster competition, among others.

Prof Hansjorg Herr, of the Berlin School of Economics, said many trade agreements had recently been signed with Vietnam, but that these pose risks.

Many private businesses had not grown well enough, State-owned companies were influenced by politics and the economy was affected by FDI businesses.

Vietnam was still an outsourcing exporter, which only created benefits for other countries, and was still stuck in the low middle-income trap.

Recently the World Bank released a new report that lays out the path for Vietnam to reach upper middle-income status in two decades.

The Vietnam 2035 report, themed “Toward Prosperity, Creativity, Equity and Democracy”, suggests that Vietnam foster private sector competitiveness, promote social inclusion, and bolster the state’s effectiveness to climb up the economic ladder into a higher bracket.

Without this, Vietnam will find it very hard to avoid the “middle-income trap” and will fall well short of its significant potential.

Vietnam’s economy was estimated to grow 5.88 per cent per year during 2011-15, the slowest pace since 2010.

Vietnam became a low middle-income country (MIC) in 2008, and remains at that level.

Recently, Japanese economist Kenichi Ohno said that Vietnam had fallen into the middle-income trap, and his diagnosis sparked a heated debate about the country’s true economic situation.

The middle income trap is a theorised economic development situation, where a country which attains a certain income will get stuck at that level.

A country in the middle income trap will have lost their competitive edge in the export of manufactured goods because their wages are on a rising trend. However they are unable to keep up with economically more developed economies in the high-valued added market.

The seminar in HCM City was organised by the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Foundation.

These startups, which are expected to have a total funding of $200 million, are also seen to generate some 8,500 jobs—a development that will help the government achieve its agenda of inclusive growth.

“There are stories of success in the Philippine startup scene. What we can do is to encourage these startups, link them to venture capitalists, and help them to improve their capacity to enter the global economy by creating an environment supportive of their persistence,” said Trade Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado.

With over 30 Filipino inventors holding 23 patents assigned to 12 foreign companies, the DTI sees startups as viable catalysts to the information era.

As one of its core objectives, DTI now aims to develop a new breed of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through innovation.

“As we define the innovation economy of the Philippines, we would like to focus on coming up with new breed of SMEs. It will not just be about digital startups, but we will also explore the field of agriculture, biotechnology, electronics, ecommerce, among others,” Terrado explained.

Based on the 2015 assessment of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Philippines climbed 17 notches to rank 83rd on the global innovation index.

Aside from the country’s impressive climb on the global innovation index, the Philippines’ strong compliance to the intellectual property rights protection also posed a viable qualification to be the next innovation hub in Asia.

On a regional scale, the country ranked second for both patent protection and IPR protection in 2014.

One of the country’s top Philippine innovations is the Salamander by H20 technologies, an amphibious flood faring utility vehicle.

As the world’s first amphibious tricycle, H20 Salamander is a sixseater urban flood utility tricycle that has two variants. One is an electric fuel and the other is powered by gasoline.

Driven by the global crisis on climate change, Salamander was developed to address the call for reduced carbon emissions and flood problems in the country.