Solon pushes for VAT refund for foreign tourists

MANILA – Senator Sherwin rock fall events, and one volcanic earthquake were recorded.

"Continuous moderate degassing from the summit crater produced steam-laden plumes that rose 800 meters before drifting to the general west," it said.

Meanwhile, sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission averaged 389 tons/day on June 19, 2023 as compared with June 18's 889 tons/day. Bacolcol said affected residents living within the permanent danger zone, who have since been evacuated when Phivolcs raised the alert level to its current status last June 8, must remain at the evacuation centers.

He said the volcano may still have a violent eruption or PDCs, landslides or rock fall events may occur. g

Global competitiveness: PH drops 4 spots to 52nd

by Catherine talavera Philstar.com

MANILA — Despite posting improvements in its overall economic performance, the Philippines has dropped four steps in this year’s World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) due to declines in the infrastructure, government and business efficiency factors.

Based on the WCY prepared by the International Institute of Management Development (IMD), the Philippines ranked 52nd among 64 economies after suffering declines in three of the four main factors or dimensions of competitiveness.

The country ranked 48th last year.

The Philippines posted declines in all the sub-factors under government efficiency. These include public finance (from 51st in 2022 to 55th in 2023), tax policy (from 13th to 14th), institutional framework (from 53rd to 56th), business legislation (from 52nd to 57th) and societal framework (from 50th to 53rd).

The country also posted a decline in the business efficiency factor, ranking 40th from 39th, as well as in the infrastructure factor to 58th from 57th in the previous year.

In contrast, the Philippines surged 13 notches higher in the economic performance factor, emerging at 40th from 53rd last year. Among the sub-factors under the economic performance factor that saw improvements are domestic economy (from 48th in 2022 to 30th in 2023), employment (from 19th to 9th in 2023) and prices (from 58th to 39th).

“Some of the challenges that the Philippines faces in 2023 include sustaining economic recovery and growth momentum amidst global downside risks, strengthening social protection and health care systems for inclusive development, addressing learning gaps to improve local education system, investing in sustainable infrastructure to reduce climate change vulnerability and reinforcing efficient public management strategies to support fiscal responsibility,” said the Asian Institute of Management Rizalino S. Navarro Policy Center for Competitiveness, the IMD’s Philippine partner institute for producing the WCY.

The report noted that the Philippines continues to rank 13th among 14 economies in the AsiaPacific region, the same ranking for the past six years.

The WCY ranks economies using 255 ranked criteria spread across four Competitiveness Factors: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure.

Of the indicators, 162 are based on hard data gathered from national sources, while the remaining indicators are perception-based ones derived from an Executive Opinion Survey of mid- and upper-level managers in each country covered.

This year’s results reflect the impact of different crises such as global inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Arturo Bris, director of the World Competitiveness Center.

“Political fragmentation is a result of COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, and a major upshot is that more and more countries – Singapore, Saudi Arabia and India, for example – are pursuing their own interests. With inflation pressures easing and uncertain stock markets, we are now able to see winners and losers in a context where multiple crises overlap,” Bris said.

Denmark ranks as the top competitive economy in the 2023 WCY rankings, followed by Ireland and Switzerland.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the top three most competitive economies are Singapore (4th), Taiwan (6th) and Hong Kong (7th). Russia and Ukraine were not assessed for this year’s report due to limited data reliability.

In contrast, Kuwait joined the list of surveyed economies for the first time and was ranked 38th among 64 economies. g

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Gatchalian on Monday, June 19 said the proposed value added tax (VAT) refund measure for nonresident tourists should provide a seamless experience to ensure that its objective of attracting more tourists is realized. In a statement, Gatchalian said customer experience is very important "and what we want is a seamless experience when nonresident tourists claim the refund at the airport."

A provision in the proposed measure should be able to prevent possible abuse by some unscrupulous individuals who might want to take advantage of the program and should include a provision on the accreditation of retailers that would be recognized for the VAT refund.

Such an accreditation process, according to Gatchalian, would deter those who may attempt to defraud the government through the VAT refund program, adding that such an accreditation process should make it easier for micro and small enterprises to be included in the VAT refund scheme.

"I really want to give special attention to local products. This can be a good opportunity to promote local products because there are plenty of mom-and-pop stores that we need to accommodate and help join in the bandwagon of this VAT refund scheme," he said.

Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, will also tackle in his proposed measure the possibility of including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) or Filipino expats based abroad in the VAT refund scheme.

He said a projected shopping revenue of around PHP9 billion can compensate for an estimated foregone revenue of PHP4 billion, adding that the said tax reprieve is seen to contribute about P12 billion to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Gatchailian is hoping the proposal could be enacted into law within the year, as he noted that the Philippines is the only remaining country in ASEAN that is yet to adopt a VAT refund program for foreign tourists. The proposed measure is seen to enhance the country's competitiveness as a tourist destination in Asia and boost tourist arrivals to its pre-pandemic level of 8.2 million in 2019. (PNA)