Biz group lauds economic team

We express our full support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s progressive economic policies and programs to move our country forward.

BUSINESS is booming for this entrepreneur family which has a full load of vegetables to transport from Divisoria. ROMAN PROSPERO

Given several positive economic developments in the country, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) lauded President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic team and expressed full support to government programs.

This was relayed by FFCCCII president Henry Lim Bon Liong during a recent forum as he bared the group’s stance on the proposed tax reforms by the government.

“(The) Philippine economy is now in a very important period of robust growth and bold reforms, while the world environment is quite uncertain due to various challenges like the USA-China trade war, increasing protectionism and even threats of a possible global economic slowdown,” Liong said.

“We want to express our solidarity with our leaders in our collective efforts to strengthen our Philippine economy,” he added, noting the organization’s sustained contribution to both nation-building and socio-economic development since its inception in 1954.

Also, with the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program’s (CTRP) second package still pending in the Congress, the FFCCCII chief expressed support for the bill, saying that it will help strengthen the Philippine economy.

“We express our full support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s progressive economic policies and programs to move our country forward,” Liong said.

“We, the FFCCCII, support the passage of CITIRA (Comprehensive Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act), which would put the country’s tax rate at par with those of our neighboring countries,” he added.

According to him, the proposed reduction in the country’s corporate income Tax (CIT) rate, which stands as the highest in the region at 30 percent, will allow corporations to utilize tax savings to expand their business, generating new jobs in the process.

“This reduction of (CIT) will also help attract more foreign direct investments,” the FFCCCII chief said.

“Likewise, we have expressed our support for the efforts of the government to improve the tax and customs system in our country so that it can increase revenue collections needed to deliver social services and finance our many new infrastructure projects,” he added.

To recall, the Duterte administration has been active in pursuing reforms in the country, particularly in infrastructure development, which contributed significantly in the country’s robust economic growth.

Local output measured as gross domestic product growth expanded 5.5 percent for the first half of the year, lower than government expectations of 6 to 7 percent. Despite this, the country’s top economic officials remained firm that Philippines will be able to hit its target.

Moreover, the sustained increase in the price of goods and services or inflation has been successfully arrested and kept within the eyed target of 2 to 4 percent with the rate for such already averaging 0.9 percent in September.

Meanwhile, Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the Department of Finance (DoF) is still in the process of “fine tuning” CITIRA, and will be working closely with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for such.

“The PEZA adopted the resolution to support the CITIRA. Of course, they’re going to work on refinements, together with us and the DTI,” Tionko said.

The FFCCCII also expressed confidence for the government on programs that could help lift the Philippines’ weakest link, the agriculture sector.

“We have confidence in our leaders in taking care of and developing our very important agriculture sector. In this exciting period of ‘Build, Build, Build’ for the country, we also encourage more multisectoral support for our Filipino farmers with ‘Plant, Plant, Plant’ and consequently a better future of ‘Grow, Grow, Grow’ for the development of our countryside and to boost rural development by using the latest agriculture technologies,” it said.

“A robust agricultural sector is important for a truly vibrant national economy,” it added.