By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez has urged investors to come in now as he assured of investors, especially new projects, of more favorable tax perks under the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (CITIRA).
According to Lopez, they have pushed for a provision in the CITIRA bill where an investor, especially the new ones, can choose an incentive package they think are more relevant to their kind of business.
“Just come in now and register and don’t wait anymore for the passage of the bill because we will have a provision in the CITIRA that investors, especially new projects, can choose an incentive regime. What works best for you we will do it,” he said addressing potential investors.
He said the new provisions that DTI has been pushing for consideration in the bill are meant to encourage companies to come in and not adopt that “wait and see” attitude.
He explained that the uncertainty among investors is not on the incentives issue but on the non-passage of the CITIRA bill. That’s why he stressed the need to pass the CITIRA bill to encourage companies to invest now. He expects the CITIRA Bill to pass within the first quarter of 2020.
But Lopez also stressed that economic uncertainties are mainly caused by the external factors in the global scene and not driven by domestic issues.
As such, should there be impact on investments inflow in the country it should be attributed to global issues, particularly the US-China trade war, he said.
“We are just a small player, the bigger picture is the US-China trade war that is the uncertainty,” he said.
This year, the BOI expects investments to reach a record ₱1.2 trillion.