A country’s agriculture bank should address its agriculture needs. A critical need is for the Philippines to increase our exports. This means more jobs and less poverty, which are urgent challenges today.
Let us compare our agriculture exports to Thailand’s. Last year, they had six times our agriculture exports: $62.5 billion compared to our $9.3 billion. If only we produced a little bit more than half of what they did, we would not have needed the $39.6 billion in overseas remittances last year to support our economy.
The credit support we need for our export and other agriculture needs does not compare well with Thailand’s. Consider the record of our agriculture bank (Land Bank of the Philippines or Landbank) compared to Thailand’s (Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives or BAAC).
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Landbank, recognized as an outstanding bank in Southeast Asia, surpasses BAAC in profitability. However, BAAC is more responsive to agriculture needs.FEATURED STORIES
