S&P Global Ratings’ recent move to upgrade the Philippines’ long-term credit rating to the higher investment grade of “BBB+” and later, Manila’s highly successful floats of Euro and “panda” bonds in the offshore capital markets are telling marks of the international financial community’s continued vote of confidence in our domestic economy and a “clear repudiation” of the misinformed belief that the Duterte administration is steering the country towards a so-called “debt trap,” according to Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino II.
Read MoreThe Departments of Finance (DOF) and of Health (DOH) are making a final push for the outgoing Congress to further raise ‘sin’ taxes on tobacco and alcohol to close a cumulative funding gap estimated at around P426 billion over the next five years for the full and proper implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) program.
Read MoreTwo papers released by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) on the preliminary effects of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law have committed “sins of omission” in downplaying the impact of this game-changing reform by ignoring two of its key components, which are the provision of a steady revenue base for both the government’s cash-intensive infrastructure modernization initiative and its three-year social protection program to cushion the initial impact of tax reform on the poorest Filipino families.
Read MoreThe Departments of Finance (DOF) and of Health (DOH) have launched a new ad featuring the “People’s Champ,” Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao in a fight against the iconic Yosi Kadiri with the campaign’s tagline “Hindi pa tapos ang laban.”
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