The Senate expects retail investment applications pending with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to double or triple from P15 billion once the amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act is finalized and approved by the legislative body.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the Senate foresees the influx of new investments in retail as improvements to the law promised a more open and fair retail ecosystem to foreign investors.
“We foresee that there will be an increase in the level of foreign direct investments in retail trade. The DTI gave us also an idea of the pending applications under existing law. I think this amount was fixed at around P15 billion pending applications under the supposed to be more stringent existing law,” he said Wednesday in a trade and investments forum organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
SB 1840, or an act amending the Retail Trade Liberalization Act of 2000, was approved on third reading by the Senate after the Lower House endorsed their own version of the measure.
