Business NEWS

Committed investments approved by the Board of Investments in the first two months this year jumped 156 percent to P121.9 billion (approximately $2.5 billion) vis-a-vis P47.625 million in the same period in 2020, indicating that recovery is within sight. 

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez expressed confidence of strong rebound in the country’s manufacturing output in the coming months. 

Trade and Industry Ramon M. Lopez expressed optimism that the Philippine economy will go back to pre-pandemic level ahead of 2023 that President Duterte earlier projected.

Starting Friday, March 5, 2021, libraries, museums, cultural centers, meetings and conventions, and limited tourist attractions and video games arcades will be allowed to operate at a maximum of 50 percent under general community quarantine (GCQ) and 75 percent under modified GCQ (MGCQ). 

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez has raised the likelihood of allowing lower tariffs on rice from India as a way of minimizing tariff barriers for the Philippines very vital commodity. 

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez today called for transformational leaders in government with crucial traits in integrity, competence and energy (ICE) specially in this pandemic period where the country continued to wallow in hunger and unemployment on prolonged strict quarantine restrictions.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez   on  Monday,  (Feb. 22)  urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to craft rules to encourage banks to lend more for auto loans stressing that banks have huge liquidity that they can use to help businesses recover.

Business name registration for online retailing already reached 1,539 in January this year, almost hitting the 1,700 online retailers registered in the first quarter in 2020.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez has warned of irreversible damages to the economy and future of next generation if the country’s high hunger and unemployment levels continue.

The Department of Trade and Industry will require motor vehicle dealers to allow outright cash mode of payment as an option amid complaints that buyers are forced to pay on installment basis only where interest rate is usuriously high.

 Amid an apparent take up of the government micro financing facility, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez has reiterated his call to all micro small and medium (MSMEs)  that wish to restart or to strengthen their business operations to avail of the Bayanihan CARES lending fund.

Government should further reopen the domestic economy to prevent job losses resulting from downsizing or closure of a number businesses, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and the government’s economic managers urged.

The departments of trade and industry and the agriculture are finalizing within this week a price cap for imported pork which could even be lower than the existing price ceiling on pork.

The Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act can bring in over P200 billion in new investments and generate as much as 2 million additional jobs, according to Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez.

An Inter-Agency Task Force on National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) is being constituted to address the alarming high unemployment situation in the country and help Filipinos get back to the new normal.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez yesterday said the domestic economy is expected to recover to 6 percent GDP growth this year, which he premised on the easing of restrictions under a modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) status for the National Capital Region and neighboring provinces.

The Board of Investments (BOI), the Philippine premier investment generation agency, has set a P1.25 trillion investments target in 2021, following the approval of P1.02 trillion in committed investments last year.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said the latest manufacturing index bodes well for the economy as he cited efforts in the cold chain and copper industries development as crucial pillars that will strengthen the country’s supply value chain.