Economy

As with other business process outsourcing (BPO) and business process management (BPM) centres around the world, the Philippines is gearing up to face the significant challenges and opportunities presented by recent advances in automation. The IT-BPO industry in the Philippines generated $24.7bn in revenue in 2018, with call centres accounting...

After nearly eight months of deliberations in Congress, the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (TRABAHO) bill was approved by lawmakers in September 2018. The government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Programme seeks to reduce the corporate income tax (CIT) rate starting in 2021 from the current 30% to 20% by 2029....

Tax reform has been front and centre of President Rodrigo Duterte’s policy agenda since the combative former mayor of Davao City was elected to the Philippines’ highest office in 2016. Indeed, enhanced revenue mobilisation from a more efficient and effective tax system is seen by the Duterte administration as a key component of plans to...

In 2018 the Philippines posted a record trade deficit of $41.4bn, the largest gap in the nation’s history. This was a major increase on previous years, compared to $27.4bn in 2017 and $26.7bn in 2016. However, the results from the first few months of 2019 suggest that the deficit is beginning to narrow. In April 2019 the balance of trade in...

The results of the latest OBG Business Barometer: Philippines CEO Survey shed light on how President Rodrigo Duterte’s tax reform packages have been received by the business community. Effective since January 1, 2018, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) programme has exempted many low-wage workers from income tax but was also partly blamed for causing...