REVENUE growth of Philippine telecommunications companies is expected to come under pressure next year, with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margins shrinking the most among Asian markets amid fiercer competition and higher capital expenditures.
THE REVENUE issuances of the previous government requiring a 10-year archive of taxpayers’ books and records should be reviewed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), according to the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP).
With this year’s promising growth in our GDP, the Philippines has been dubbed the fastest-growing economy among Asian nations. We can achieve more if we are able to continuously improve on areas that are critical to growing the economy. The difficulty of doing business has been our long standing problem. Although the Philippines moved up to no. 99 from no. 103 last year in World Bank’s “doing business” ranking, the Philippines dropped from number 165 to number 171 in the category of starting a business. Outdated procedures and “red tape” remain the biggest obstacles towards improving doing business. From setting-up, to complying with local rules and regulations, even dissolution of a business is a lengthy and complicated process. Many procedural reforms claim to have reduced the number of days to secure certificates, licenses, and permits. Yet in reality, it still takes at least one to as long as three months to fully register in all government agencies.
THE uncertainty presented by a Trump presidency may require a shift by the Philippines if it intends to grow its foreign trade, siding China because the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could be dead in the water, the head of the exporters’ association said.
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is holding up as an model for the mine site rehabilitation process Filminera Resources Corp., a metals miner threatened with suspension after a government crackdown against substandard environmental management practices.
Come 2017, users and readers of the auditor’s report on 2016 financial statements should expect dramatic and ground-breaking changes. The Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy in its Resolution No. 125, Series of 2016 has approved and adopted new auditor’s reporting standards, which were based on updated new international auditor reporting standards. These new standards will be effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after Dec. 15, 2016, the same effective date as the new international standards. Accordingly, financial statements for the year ending Dec. 31, 2016, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2017, will have to be based on these new standards.
THE Board of Investments (BoI) is slated to complete by yearend the Investments Priorities Plan (IPP) 2017-2019, which will expand priority areas in line with the Duterte administration’s 10-point economic agenda.
LISTED A Brown Company Inc. has signed a cooperation agreement with MTD Philippines, Inc., a subsidiary of Malaysian infrastructure conglomerate AlloyMTD, to construct a rail project seen to reduce traffic congestion in Metro Manila.
MERCHANDISE exports rose 5.1% in September, the indicator’s first positive performance since April 2015, as factory output continued to grow.
A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and a Metro Manila flood control project will be the first projects to be presented to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) once the Philippines confirms its membership in the Beijing-backed lender.