Legislative update

PHILIPPINES - In Brief 18 Dec 2020 by Romeo Bernardo
Congress adjourns for the Christmas holidays starting tomorrow, having passed not just the P4.5 trillion 2021 budget but measures extending to end-2021 the validity of this year’s budget and the Bayanihan 2 Act. The latter means that government is expected to miss spending targets this year but will have a higher budget limit next year. The revised fiscal program shows lower disbursements for 2020 and higher for 2021 (see table). The corresponding budget deficit targets were revised to 7.6% and 8.9% of GDP, with revenue adjustments as well.Table 1.Revised fiscal programSource: DBCCNot entirely surprising was the failure to pass the CREATE bill after the House of Representatives insisted on convening a bicameral conference committee (BCC) to reconcile differences in the provisions passed by the two chambers. For a while, the hope was that the lower house would simply adopt the Senate version and do away with the need for a BCC. While both versions involve some P250 billion of revenue losses over 2021-22, the schedule of the corporate tax reduction as well as features of tax incentives differ substantially. The target now for a reconciled bill that will have to be ratified by both houses is in Q1. Congress resumes on January 18.

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register
Sign-in
Forgot your password?
Copyright 2024 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved. This is prepared for GlobalSource Partners’ clients and may not be redistributed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, retransmitted or disclosed, in whole or in part, or in any form or manner, without the express written consent of GlobalSource Partners. This is distributed simultaneously to our website and other portals used by GlobalSource Partners. The information herein was obtained from various sources and is believed to be reliable but GlobalSource Partners does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Neither GlobalSource Partners nor any Country Analyst, officer or employee accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential damages or losses rising from any use of this or its contents.