Believing the private sector is the engine of economic growth, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual yesterday warned against setting additional restrictions on investments to encourage businesses to set up shop in the country.
“It’s very important that we encourage the private sector both local and international investors and we have to make it easy for them,” Pascual said at the Post-SONA (State of the Nation Address) Economic Briefing yesterday.
Pascual cautioned government agencies should be more careful in crafting the implementing rules and regulations of laws where incentives are provided “so that no restrictions or additional restrictions are added outside the law.”
Pascual cited as example the Renewable Energy Act where foreign ownership restrictions have been introduced, although there is no provision for that in the law.
Pascual expressed hope the implementation of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises will reflect the true wisdom of the law.
“Whatever is provided… tax incentives will be implemented as provided for in the law,” he said, without specifying.
But industries have been clamoring for revisions in the IRR of CREATE to reconcile the gaps and inconsistencies between the law and the IRR.
Pascual also noted this “tendency to constrain the growing of companies.”
“We need to encourage and support the growth of Philippine companies particularly, those which are going to compete in the international market, because in the globalized and highly contestable market, the players are all big companies, and we need big companies to compete with their counterparts from foreign countries,” he said. – Irma Isip
