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Thursday, July 18, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 275
P. | | 7 DAYS A WEEK
BIR CERTAIN OF HITTING P2.85-T GOAL FOR 2024 B R J S. A @reine_alberto
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ESPITE falling short of the government’s mid-year revenue assumptions, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) remained confident of reaching its P2.848-trillion full-year revenue goal on the back of taxing vape products and online sellers. Internal Revenue Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui Jr. said BIR’s collection from January to June 2024 posted a double-digit growth of 11 percent compared to the same period in 2023. The BIR has collected P1.36 trillion as of end-June 2024, higher C A
FERTILE GROUND FOR CHANGE Microbiologists and engineers from Agri Specialist Inc. inspect sacks of Biofertilizer for corn and rice farms developed by the University of the Philippines-Los Baños Biotech, at their biofertilizer plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna,
on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Agri Specialist has pledged to donate 500 metric tons of Bio-N biofertilizer, which can be used on approximately 500,000 hectares of farmland, to support President Marcos Jr.’s initiative to reduce farmers’ dependence on expensive, imported petroleum-based fertilizers. NONOY LACZA
Govt urged: Form national BSP TIGHTENS FOREX RULES FOR RIGHT TRANSACTION DATA council for semiconductor biz
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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) imposed tighter penalties and amended foreign exchange (FX) regulations to obtain accurate and crucial information on FX transactions. BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. issued Circular No. 1197 Series of 2024 to amend regulations on FX transactions “to promote and maintain price stability, ensure financial stability and effectively supervise banks.” “These regulations will likewise enable the BSP to efficiently generate reports being used for policy studies and monitoring of the economy and financial system, among others,” the BSP said. The BSP’s new regulations improve the reporting and com-
pliance for FX transactions, and mandate the central bank to strengthen its oversight of the market, but “not necessarily restrict [FX transactions],” according to a news report by Bloomberg. The Monetary Board, BSP’s policy-making arm, has set a maximum monetary penalty to authorized agent banks (AABs), AAB forex corps, offshore banking units (OBUs), regional operations (ROs), and/or their Directors/Trustees, Officers and/or Employees (DTOEs), amounting to P1,000,000 for each transactional violation or P100,000 per calendar day for violations of a S “BSP,” A
B A E. S J @andreasanjuan
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HE Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) is urging the government to establish a national council for the semiconductor industry to tighten the partnership among the sector, academe and the government in order to address workforce development issues within the industry and enhance the product mix in the Philippines, among others. At a briefing on Wednesday on the government’s efforts in advancing the integrated-circuit (IC) design in the Philippines, Seipi President Danilo C. Lachica underscored the need to put up a council targeted at executing plans within the semiconductor industry.
Citing Vietnam, which doubled its electronics exports in seven years or more than what the Philippines had accomplished in 50 years, he said, “Well, they have incentives but one of the things that they’re doing right is having a National Council for the semiconductor industry.” Lachica explained the role of Vietnam’s semiconductor council. “The government, academe, industry...they really look at the global environment, what are the prospects of demand, what companies are we going to attract to Vietnam, what will the incentives be,” Lachica said. The head of the largest organization of foreign and Filipino electronics companies said should this council be formed in the PhilipC A
PESO EXCHANGE RATES US 58.4660 ■ JAPAN 0.3693 ■ UK 77.8538 ■ HK 7.4886 ■ SINGAPORE 43.4950 ■ AUSTRALIA 39.3593 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 15.5884 ■ EU 63.7396 ■ KOREA 0.0423 ■ CHINA 8.0438 Source: BSP (July 17, 2024)