In an economic forum, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (Philexport) president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said: "Economists know better than all the exporters combined what levers can be pulled to stabilize the exchange rate at levels that do not push exporters down the ravine.

Ortiz-Luis mentioned a recent analysis in the pages of the international magazine Economists raising the danger of appreciating Southeast Asian currencies that may damage their export dependent economies.

Present global trade and cash flow realities may require that those levers be used in more ways than just reining in inflation and defending the peso from speculative attacks, the export leader said.

"We need an exchange rate that balances the requirements of government and business, of dollar earners and local consumers."

"Most of all, we need an exchange rate that will maintain the competitiveness of the nation’s goods, services, human and natural resources, and financial instruments," Ortiz-Luis stressed.

He told the economists who included some of the past economic planning chiefs of government that in consultations with 19 regional chapters of Philexport and 39 industry associations in the past couple of weeks, the export leaders have sounded desperate.

"They said they are not only bleeding. They claim they are dying," he shared.

Affected are some eight million direct and indirect workers in the different export industries led by the food sector with 3.5 million workers, marine products with 1.32 million; furniture with 1 million workers, the handicrafts industry with 700,000 direct workers, the resource-based industries including mining 650,000, the electronics industry 476,000; garments 223,000 and ICT services 150,000.

That part of the economy that earns foreign exchange including exports, overseas Filipino workers, and export service providers, easily contribute more than half of the Philippine economy.