The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez called on various government agencies to intensify their support for struggling micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), particularly those in the food and beverage business that had been seriously affected by the economic downturn due to the pandemic.
Lopez reported during the Senate inquiry on the Effects of COVID-19 on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship that food and beverage companies are not included in the list of registered business enterprises (RBE) qualified for incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law.
Lopez suggested the gradual reopening and increasing capacity of MSMEs especially when a store’s staff have been fully vaccinated.
Other suggestions of the Trade Secretary include: micro-financing with a grace period to be provided by DTI’s Small Business Corporation (SBCorp); moratorium on bank loan principal payment through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP); moratorium on tax payments, where business renewal fees collected local government units should be based on 2020 sales and not 2019 sales.
Other proposals are for those with disabilities and senior citizens to be granted discounts that should be deductible from tax payments and allocating a budget for a Restaurant Business Revitalization Fund for 2022.
After unemployment reached 7.7% in May 2021, Lopez said the government should allocate a budget for a Livelihood Support Fund to affected sectors.
Lopez said, “The DTI looks forward to continue supporting our troubled MSME and consumers to recover as the economy fully reopens. As continuity is key to the successful delivery of services to our people, especially the marginalized sectors, we need to boost government’s assistance to MSME through DTI programs such as the Livelihood Seeding Program, Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-Asenso, and Covid-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises.”
He added, “The DTI hopes the government can issue policies to encourage to BSP-supervised financial institutions to continue to provide relief measures to its clients by renewing, restructuring, or extending the terms of the loans.”