Retailers are seeking a status quo on the retail industry saying now is not the right time to liberalize the industry.
This was bared by a retail executive after reports circulated the bicameral committee has approved the amended minimum investment for foreign retailers at P25 million with a per store minimum of P10 million.
This is a compromise between what the Senate and the House of Representatives have approved as minimum investment of P50 million and P10 million, respectively.
“With the present economic realities, this is not the right time to implement this,” said Samie Lim, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Retailers Association.
The group fears of the possible impact on small and medium players of liberalizing the retail sector as they now have to compete with new foreign retailers which have a more efficient and lower- cost supply chain and which enjoy government support.
As it is, Lim said, small players currently face competition from the underground micro and small retailers who do not pay the right taxes and wages as well as foreign electronic commerce companies which do not pay for rent, taxes and duties and enjoy all the efficiencies of buying and selling from foreign suppliers.
Large local retail chains, by their sheer size, eclipse the smaller players especially with all the modern tools and best practices of modern retailing.
Lim also warned unemployment in both the retail sector and the manufacturing sector will wipe out whatever gains the industry has made in the past decades. – Irma Isip
