THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has called on Congress to give an improved tax-incentive package to overseas Filipinos who invest their money back to the Philippines.

The bourse, in a statement on Thursday, said the move will help the local capital market and, at the same time, allow the overseas Filipinos overcome the adverse impact of the peso’s appreciation.

“We consider the proposal a win-win solution, because it will address the concerns not only of overseas Filipinos, but also of other key sectors in the economy,” explained president and chief executive Francis Lim.

Data shows the peso appreciated by 18 percent against the dollar last year. And this trend is hurting overseas Filipinos whose earnings are dollar-based. On the other hand, the PSEi, which is the main barometer of local stock-price movements, went up 21.4 percent also in 2007. 

Lim said they submitted a position paper on the matter to Rep. Ramon “Red” Durano VI, chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs.

The PSE seeks to include the contents of their position paper as amendments to the proposed Personal Equity Retirement Account (PERA) Act.

PERA bills, which aim to establish a voluntary and supplementary retirement scheme, are now pending in both houses of Congress. They are designed to encourage savings and give incentive to persons to invest in the capital markets to make their money grow.

PERA contributors will enjoy such incentives as a tax credit for the members’ PERA contribution; a tax exemption to cover the income of such contribution; and a tax exemption in the distribution of said contribution. 

As originally proposed in both the House and Senate versions, the maximum PERA contribution qualified to enjoy a tax credit is pegged at P50,000 for an individual and P100,000 for a couple. 

THE Philippines has reduced the tariffs on 80 percent of farm and industrial goods traded under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta).

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Jafza International, the renowned Dubai-based operator of free-trade zones around the world, has begun collection of market data in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in preparation for its $250-million development project here.

THERE are around three Filipinos born every minute, according to the latest data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Thursday.

THE Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has called on Congress to give an improved tax-incentive package to overseas Filipinos who invest their money back to the Philippines.

CITY OF MALOLOS—The construction of the Bulacan Bulk Water System project, despite opposition from some quarters, may soon get the green light for it to proceed.

CEBU CITY—Kepco-SPC Power Corp. (KSPC) asked the Garcia and Aboitiz families of Cebu to be “reasonable and fair” in handling the power-supply deals between Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) and power plants also owned by the two families for the benefit of consumers in Metro Cebu.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is eyeing to propagate a flood-tolerant rice variety developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) as part of efforts to prepare the country for the ill effects of climate change.