Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Singapore-based DBS  said yesterday the weak export growth in April will have a limited impact on  the country’s   gross domestic product (GDP) growth.  “Any impact on overall GDP growth is likely to be limited,” DBS said in a research note.  “The main support for the economy has come from domestic demand, which remains robust and likely to continue supporting overall GDP growth above the six percent mark for at least the next couple of years,” the bank said. The country’s merchandise exports grew by only 0.8 percent to $4.544 billion in April from  a revised $4.51 billion a year ago. The Philippine Statistics Authority attributed the slower growth to the contraction in the shipments of electronic products, the country’s top export commodity. This brought the four-month tally to $18.859 billion, up 5.4 percent from the same period last year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The government expects merchandise exports to grow by six percent this year over 2013 levels. Philippine economic growth, meanwhile, is forecast to settle between 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco  Jr. earlier said economic growth may settle at a “more moderate pace” following the 7.2 percent expansion recorded last year.  “On broad expectations, we think that the authorities would be very comfortable even if GDP growth were to come in the lower half of the six to seven percent range,” DBS said. The bank expects the economy growing  6.3 percent  this year.   Read More …

MANILA — The Philippines has reduced its sugar stocks for exports by 90,000 metric tons (MT), or a third of the allocation for world markets for the 2013/14 crop year, to boost domestic supply and arrest further local price increases, the industry regulator said.

THE PRESIDENTIAL Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization (PAFSAM) has said that the government is to spend P750 million to address the coconut scale insect epidemic that has already damaged 1.5 million trees in Calabarzon and Basilan.

THE KEY in determining the taxability of a transaction is to know the nature of said transaction. This is definitely important in determining the taxability of a lease. A finance lease should be differentiated from an operating lease. Recently, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) clarified that a finance lease is subject to documentary stamp tax (DST) as a loan transaction instead of a lease transaction.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said yesterday the agreement with the SM Prime Holdings on the location of the proposed P1.4 billion Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit (MRT-LRT) common station expired more than three years ago. Michael Arthur Sagcal, DOTC spokesperson, said the memorandum of agreement signed by SM Prime Holdings Inc. and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) that was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in July 2009 already lapsed in 2011. SM Prime filed a case against the DOTC and LRTA before the Pasay City regional trial court early this month seeking an injunction to stop the government from relocating the planned common station to the Trinoma Mall instead of SM North EDSA mall. “First of all, the NEDA approval that SMPHI is referring to expired in 2011.  The 2013 NEDA approval, which is in effect, allows the Common Station to be built in the more advantageous location at MRT3,” Sagcal said. The proposed common station would connect the LRT1, MRT3, and the future proposed MRT7 of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. The MOA also stated that SM would have the naming rights to the proposed common station in exchange for P200 million. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Secondly, SMPHI was publicly quoted through its president in 2013 as saying that it does not mind where the common station is built, as long as it can exercise its alleged naming rights,” Sagcal said. Read More …