THE main collection arms of government have thus far posted collection growth rates lower than the minimum 16-percent growth required to sustain the fiscal momentum, the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said.

UA&P’s Victor Abola noted the Bureau of Internal Revenue improved its collection by only 2.8 percent on a yearly basis, and the Bureau of Customs, which posted larger-than-target collections last year, posted a 0.7-percent decline.

“This is way below the required 16-percent annual tax collection increase [necessary] for sustained fiscal gains. Unfortunately, this is not likely to improve significantly in the coming months unless the government addresses the strong-peso issue,” he said in a statement.

Abola said the government’s P41.5 billion budget deficit in the first 10 months, favorably lower by 26 percent from year-ago level, “masks the extremely weak performance of the two main tax agencies.”

He also noted that government spending similarly slowed from last year’s 33-percent expansion to this year’s 6.7 percent.

He feared the government’s reluctance to spend will restrict its ability to continue to fund its infrastructure program and deliver improved basic services to its people.

Abola welcomed government’s success at selling its 60-percent stake at the energy development arm of the Philippine National Oil Co. but pointed out it has ran out of other assets to sell in order to boost its revenue flows over the near term.

“So the real solution is [for government to] significantly improve its tax collection,” he said.

“A strong peso will make that difficult,” Abola said.

A MEMBER of the European Union (EU) Parliament said the Philippines can soon deploy highly skilled workers in any of the 27 member-countries of the regional bloc once the EU’s “blue card” is approved. It is a proposed institutionalized EU work permit.

CLARK FREEPORT—Clark and Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Friday setting in motion a policy regulating the entry of foreign visitors and workers in the Clark Freeport Zone.

THE government has recently decided to cancel the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) loan for the Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corp.’s (PNOC-EDC) Northern Luzon Wind Power Project Phase 1.

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has expressed fear that the soaring prices of crude in the world market would prompt employers to lay off their workers.

THE main collection arms of government have thus far posted collection growth rates lower than the minimum 16-percent growth required to sustain the fiscal momentum, the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said.

THE country’s macroeconomic fundamentals may be improving in recent years but it needs to be strengthened further to weather downturns and external shocks, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

CEBU CITY—The members of the multipartite monitoring team (MMT) set up to oversee the exploratory oil- drill operations in Tañon Strait are set to go to the field after they were convened for the first time over the weekend in Cebu City.