ECONOMIC GROWTH will remain intact with little disruption expected to result from the imposition of military rule in Mindanao, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report, though it noted that uncertainty surrounding the rule of law could erode investor confidence if left unchecked.
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said that it is currently behind the pace for its annual collection target after falling short of its monthly goals since the start of the year.
Every January, during the renewal of local business permits, I collect anecdotes from our staff, specifically actual stories of the challenges faced while processing the business permits of our clients. They range from the usual timewasting queue in certain local government offices to technical issues. At times the problem is not even a technical issue — like a local government unit’s refusal to process an application simply because the latest sales figure is lower than the previous year’s.
MARKET SENTIMENT is expected to remain broadly unaffected by the declaration of martial law in Mindanao despite questions about the legal basis for the declaration, an analyst with a global bank said.
THE removal of tax incentives under the government’s proposed tax reform program could stifle the growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, as these incentives have been attractive to foreign firms, a property consultancy said.
NATIONAL Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary Rolando G. Tungpalan said that about two-thirds of the government’s medium-term infrastructure spending will be sourced from government funds, with the remainder split between overseas long-term loans and public-private concessions.
THE security of tenure of workers is “not an absolute right,” the Employer’s Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) said, noting that businesses also have a right to pursue a reasonable return on investment.
AT LEAST 400 power users in Luzon and Visayas with an average monthly consumption of at least one megawatt (MW) have remained within the captive market of distribution utilities as of the first quarter, giving electricity retailers enough room to gain dominance in the highly competitive contestable market.
On Feb. 28, President Rodrigo R. Duterte, through Memorandum Order No. 12, approved the 2017 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), as drafted by the Board of Investments (BoI). The IPP is issued every three years and lists the priority investment activities that may be eligible for incentives. The IPP is aligned with the goals, priorities and strategies under President Duterte’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda and the framework on the Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy. After publication, the 2017 IPP took effect on March 18, 2017. At present, the BoI is finalizing the general policies and specific guidelines of the 2017 IPP which will set out in detail the criteria and other parameters that the investment activities must meet to qualify for incentives.
THE declaration of Martial Law in the southern Philippines is unlikely to derail the economy from sustaining growth of above 6% this year, analysts at BMI Research said, even as they flagged greater risk of political instability.