THE MUCH-AWAITED groundbreaking for the new terminal at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) will not go through in January due to delays in the relocation of Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) Cebu facility, the head of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center said on Monday.
MANILA, Philippines – The government rejected all bids for the 91-day and 364-day Treasury bills (T-bills) due to the unreasonably high interest rates sought by banks. The Bureau of the Treasury, however, sold P4.7 billion worth of six-month debt papers, or a little more than half of the planned P8-billion issuance. The yield on the 182-day bills went up by five percentage points to 1.82 percent. Tenders amounted to P8.96 billion. National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said the rates sought by banks were “way way above where they should be.” Had it accepted the bids, the rate of the 91-day bills would have risen by 89 percentage points from 1.42 percent to 2.31 percent. Tenders reached only P6 billion, short of the P8-billion planned offering. The rate for the 364-debt paper would have risen by 21.9 percentage points to 2.059 percent. Bids amounted to P7.2 billion, 20 percent more than the P6 billion on offer. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “No reason for rates to drastically rise. They’re asking for much bigger increase in rates,” De Leon said. The government has programmed to sell P135 billion worth of debt instruments in the first quarter of the year as part of a fund-raising initiative to augment its expenditure requirements. About 86 percent of the government’s borrowing requirements will come from the domestic market while the balance of 14 percent will come from international lenders. Foreign borrowings are done through the sale of sovereign bonds in the international Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Senate will push for the passage of the Cabotage Law and competition policy which are seen to help promote the development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) this year. According to Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, who chairs the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, he is committed to work on the passage of the two bills this year. Aquino said the inclusion of the two bills in the President’s priority legislative agenda this year is a welcome development as both are seen to promote the growth o MSMEs. Senate Bill (SB) No. 2364, filed by Aquino, seeks to amend Section 1009 of the Presidential Decree No. 1464, otherwise known as the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978, in response to the President’s call to relax the country’s policies on cabotage. This, as it is cheaper to send products from other countries to the Philippines than to ship goods within the country. For instance the cost of shipping a 20-foot equivalent unit container from Kaohsiung in Taiwan to Cagayan de Oro is $360 or P16,000 only, while the cost of shipping the same cargo from Manila to Cagayan de Oro will take $1,120 or almost P50,000. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 If the proposed measure is enacted into law, foreign ships would be allowed to call in multiple ports, which would in effect lower the logistics costs. SB No. 2282 or the Fair Competition Act of 2014, meanwhile, aims Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – More households borrowed from local banks as of the third quarter of 2014 to pay for their home and car purchases, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data showed. Consumer loans rose 21 percent to P849.7 billion as of end-September last year from P702.6 billion in the same period in 2013. The latest level is also six percent higher than the P804.1 billion recorded in end-June. The increase was driven by a 25-percent jump in residential real estate loans to P382.5 billion from P306.4 billion and a 20-percent climb in auto loans to P217.4 billion from P181.1 billion. BSP data also showed credit card receivables went up three percent to P156.5 billion as of end-September from P151.9 billion in the same period in 2013, while other consumer loans slid 28 percent to P45.7 billion from P63.1 billion. Salary loans or those granted to individuals on the basis of their regular salary, pension, or other compensation amounted to P47.6 billion in end-September, central bank data also showed. The BSP only started monitoring salary loans as a separate category under consumer loans in end-June last year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Consumer loans have been rising in the last few years, supporting domestic consumption which remain as the major driver of the Philippine economy. In end-September last year, household loans made up 16.68 percent of the banks’ total loan portfolio. Non-performing consumer loans, meanwhile, amounted to P42 billion in end-September, about five percent of the total household Read More …
Early this year, Executive Order (EO) No. 68-A, Series of 2014, amending EO No. 68, Series of 2012 was issued to simplify the terms of the VAT tax credit certificate (TCC) monetization program, and thereby promote conducive business environment and raise the business credibility of the government. Pursuant to EO No. 68-A, the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) issued Joint Circular No. 2-2014 providing for the mechanism for qualified VAT-registered persons to receive the cash equivalent of their outstanding VAT TCCs. Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 82-2014 circularizes the full text of the said joint circular. The joint circular provides that VAT TCCs for which the BIR has issued the corresponding notice of payment schedule (NPS) and VAT drawback TCCs approved for monetization by the BOC, are qualified for monetization under the joint circular. Similarly, all other VAT TCCs outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2012 not covered for monetization and VAT TCCs issued after Dec. 31, 2012, are qualified for cash conversion, notwithstanding the existing administrative regulations, guidelines or conditions prohibiting or restricting the cash conversion of VAT TCCs. Specifically, the joint circular provides the procedures in which holders of VAT TCCs with BIR-issued NPS may present the NPS to the BIR for payment on or before the maturity dates indicated thereon. Within 45 calendar days from presentation of the NPS, the BIR should directly pay the total face value of the NPS, Read More …
DAVAO CITY — The Regional Development Council of Davao is pushing for a separate contract award for the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in this city instead of bundling the project with other airports under the public-private partnership (PPP) program.
THE TRANSPORTATION department wants a January signing for an agreement covering the building of a second common station near SM City North EDSA, connecting Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) and Light Rail Transit 1 (LRT-1), in a move it hopes will help resolve a contract dispute with SM Prime Holdings, Inc.
IN A PREVIOUS column (http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=the-oecd-action-plan-on-base-erosion-and-profit-shifting&id=99561), we wrote about the general framework of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative, why addressing BEPS is a key priority for many governments across the globe, and the 15-point BEPS Action Plan drafted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Action Plan aims to ensure that profits are taxed where economic activities generating the profits are performed and where value is created. In this column, we tackle the OECD Report on Action 1, which addresses the tax challenges of the digital economy.
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine exporters are looking to enter new markets to grow revenues by 10 percent in 2015. According to Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc., Senen Perlada, executive director of the public-private Export Development Council and director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau, said local exporters are looking for opportunities to expand market share and penetrate new markets. “Hopefully, we can extend a bit our markets maybe to more of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Plus (countries). (And) I think maybe Turkey, hopefully a bit of Brazil and Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) countries,” he said. The GCC groups Middle Eastern countries United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Top markets for Philippine exports at present include Japan, US and China. Apart from bringing its products to new markets, Perlada said the country would also focus on job-creating export industries. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “We will focus on those products that will contribute to inclusive growth. These include crustacean, mollusks, fresh and processed foods, still electronics and halal organic and natural products,” he said. Under the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) for 2014 to 2016 submitted by the EDC to President Aquino, total exports are targeted to grow by 8- to 9.3 percent in 2014 from $78.5 billion in 2013. Earlier, the DTI said exports in 2014 may grow by 10- to 11-percent given the recovery of the electronics sector Read More …
A person with a passion to excel will always outperform the 99 others who merely have interest to do the same. I have been in the leadership training business for so long. And while many people who went through the training would rate the session as high and describe it as: • Life-changing seminar • It drives me to improve • Can’t wait to go back to work and apply the lessons • Challenges me to become better Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Many of them do not actually build up the passion to do what they have learned even if they have the tools to do it. But there are very rare people who would take the learning investments seriously, put the principles they learned into practice and then one or two years later, they would send me Facebook messages happily telling me how they have been promoted and how well their performance have improved and their family relationships restored. What could possibly be the difference between the two groups of participants who attended the same program that was facilitated by the same person and yet produced two different results? Here’s how I see it. While one group of participants simply expressed the interest to improve, it is the other group who will carry the passion to make it happen. And when their efforts finally paid off, when they finally reached their success goals, those who merely expressed interest were left wondering why they never Read More …