Top News

By Riza Lozada Factory output is on a slump for September to November of last year but the government’s chief economist expect the implementation of the Tax Reform for Inclusion and Acceleration Act (Train) will fuel a recovery for the manufacturing output in 2018.

The next target of the Duterte administration in the tax reform program are reduction of the corporate tax and the streamlining of fiscal incentives that pose a drain on the government finances.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has set a proposed budget of P3.4 trillion for 2019, which is 1.5 percent higher than the P3.35 trillion budget for this year, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.

Filipinos’ access and use of formal financial products and services continues to improve in the country, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in its latest report on the state of financial inclusion.

SM Foundation distributed relief packs to internally displaced persons and victims of typhoons Urduja and Vinta that ravaged parts of Visayas and Mindanao during the holiday season.

The Philippines needs to offer more routes to various destinations in the country to attract more tourists, the Department of Tourism said.

By Luis Leoncio The government warned businesses against exploiting the start of the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) to cheat consumers as it threatened to slap profiteering charges against those suddenly jacking up prices of commodities particularly oil products.

A sea change in the country’s economic relations with its Asian neighbors primarily China resulted in the opening of the investments tap in 2017 following President Duterte’s foreign policy rebalancing towards Asia.

The inter-agency Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) has raised some of the government’s economic targets as a result of domestic and overseas development, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.

The signing into law of the first package of its Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) at the end of last year gave President Duterte his first major legislative victory.