As domestic and external headwinds persist in 2024, the government will continue pushing forward growth-enhancing strategies to boost economic expansion and ensure that the Philippines remains on track with its medium- to long-term goals, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
To finance the P5.767 trillion national budget for 2024, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said the DOF is ramping up resource mobilization efforts to collect the P4.3 trillion target revenues this year.
“The government is on track to meet this goal, with total revenues already reaching roughly PHP 1.41 trillion as of the end of April,” according to Recto.
The Finance Chief also placed greater emphasis on improving non-tax revenue collections to generate more funds without imposing additional taxes, mainly through dividend remittances from government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs).
The GOCCs have thus far contributed P88.6 billion in cash dividends as of May 6, 2024, 11 times higher than its remittance of P8 billion during the same period last year.
The government is also on track to meet its financing requirements for the year, raising its largest domestic issuance of P584.9 billion from the 30th tranche of Retail Treasury Bonds (RTB 30) issuance in January and the USD 2 billion dual-tranche global issuance in May.
The government has secured funding from the market at very cheap rates, with the 10-year spread of the global bond issuance being the tightest among all our similar issuances since 2022, while the 25-year sustainability tranche achieved the second-best rate in the government’s history.
Further, the government will continue to intensify the implementation of interventions to address inflation to boost private spending and revenue collections.
“Ensuring that prices of goods remain stable and affordable is crucial to further grow the economy, consequently enabling us to boost revenue collection,” Recto said.
While accelerating its efforts in countering the impact of El Niño on food security, the government is also proactively preparing to face the imminent threat of La Niña.
Meanwhile, Recto also emphasized growing the economy by boosting investments, which will in turn create more job opportunities, broaden the tax base, and improve tax collections.
To encourage more domestic and international investors, Recto is pushing for the immediate passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE).
The bill will enhance the ease of doing business by improving the country’s tax incentives policy and administration, and tailor-fit the interests of investors in strategic investments.
The CREATE MORE bill was already approved by the House of Representatives on the third and final reading on March 18, 2024.
Recto, along with the Economic Development Group (EDG), has likewise instructed agencies to finalize and submit their revised rules and regulations to ensure the proper implementation of the Public Service Act, which will boost foreign investments in the country.
To sustain infrastructure spending, President Marcos has issued Executive Order (EO) No. 59 on April 30, 2024 to accelerate the rollout of the projects in the country by streamlining the permitting process.