Philippines “EASE OF DOING BUSINESS” Leapfrog from 138 – to top 108; Amazing 30 notches up in 1 year

The Philippines is among the 10 best economies that carved inroads in making it easier to do business in the past year, improving its ranking by 30 places in the World Bank Group's "Doing Business" report released Tuesday.  

In "Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises," the Washington-based multilateral lender said the Philippines was among nations that has implemented at least three reforms in doing business the multilateral lender monitors.

The Philippines made it easier for businessmen to secure construction permits, obtain credit and pay taxes, the report noted.  

In the latest report, the Philippines now ranks 108th out of 189 nations, up 30 notches from the 138 last year.

"This is the most that the Philippines has moved since the report started," said Nataliya Mylenko, World Bank senior financial sector specialist, said at a briefing in Taguig City.   

The other nine nations are Ukraine, Rwanda, Russia, Kosovo, Djibouti, Ivory Coast, Burundi, Macedonia and Guatemala.

"The introduction of a fully operational online filing and payment system made tax compliance easier for companies," World Bank said about the Philippines in a statement tied to the report.

It also noted the "simplified" process in securing occupancy clearances which helped ease the process of obtaining construction permits, as well as new rules that guarantee access to their data in the Philippine credit bureau.

Playing catch up

The Philippines, however, still has a long way to go in closing the gap with other countries in terms of doing business.

Singapore continued to be the most business-friendly economy in the world, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, US and Denmark.

The bottom five were Chad, Central African Republic, Libya, South Sudan and Congo.

"We're recognizing that the Philippines has made improvements, but there is more that the country can do," Mikiko Imai Ollison, co-private sector development specialist at World Bank, told Southeast Asian journalists in a webcast from Washington.

However, Ollison noted that based on World Bank findings around 35 days on the average are needed to start a business in the Philippines, compared with "less than 20 days" for "majority of the countries" included in the report.

Despite improvement in paying taxes, World Bank co-private sector development specialist Charlotte Nan Jiang said on the webcast this remains a drag on the Philippines' business environment. 

At the Taguig City briefing, Mylenko said the Philippines must computerize online registration for businesses and land titling and improve the legal framework on collaterals. 

The pace of business registration and renewing business permits in the Philippines remains a laggard in Southeast Asia, Motoo Konishi, World Bank Philippines country director, noted at the same briefing.

Reforms underway

More reforms are needed, Trade and Industry Undersecretary Nora Terrado said in an interview at the sidelines of the briefing.

"We have cut down to 16 steps... But is this the best we can achieve? No," Terrado said, referring to the number of steps needed to start a business.

The government and private sector are working to enhance inter-agency collaboration in trimming business processes, she said. "We will regroup, will re-plan and strengthen our strategy, so we'll leapfrog in our ranking."

Guillermo Luz, private-sector representative at the National Competitiveness Council, said: "Consistency is also important. We need to make improvements year-on-year... on-year, that's the only way we can move up," adding that all nations are constantly upgrading their processes.

 

"Hopefully, by this time next year we're already in the double-digit neighborhood," Luz said of the NCC goal the Philippine ranking in 2014.

American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. committee chairman John Forbes is confident when it comes to upcoming reforms in improving the business environment. 

"The key takeaway is you have to have strong leadership to move up. The challenge now is you are in the neighborhood of better economies, but I'm confident you can go up," he said.

The World Bank report noted the pace of business regulatory reform continues to accelerate worldwide following the 2008 financial crisis.

"A better business climate that enables entrepreneurs to build their businesses and reinvest in their communities is key to local and global economic growth," World Bank Group [p]resident Jim Yong Kim was quoted as saying in the statement. — KG/VS

GMA News

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DPWH to bid out ₱62 Billion / $1.44 Billion Dollars 3 toll road projects after Cavite-Laguna Expressway – Luzon Philippines

The Department of Works and Highways (DPWH) said it is preparing for three expressway projects that it will bid out by middle of 2014.

Undersecretary Rafael Yabut identified the three as

• Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike (₱36.74 billion / $854 Million USD)
• Central Luzon Link Expressway Phase1 (₱14.9 billion / $346.3 Million USD)
• Calamba-Los Baños Expressway. (₱10.38 billion / $241.23 Million USD)

The ₱36.74 billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike involves the construction of a 41.54-kilometer four-lane road dike, including bridges, pumping stations and ancillary flood gates.

The road starts from Bicutan, Taguig, connecting to the proposed C-6 Expressway Road Project. It will traverse Taguig, Parañaque, Muntinlupa in Metro Manila and the Laguna towns of Los Baños, Biñan, Sta. Rosa, and Cabuyao.

"The project is a multi-purpose road, not only expressway. There's a reclamation part for property development. That's [the] incentives for those going to bid," Yabut said.

He said DPWH is finalizing the feasibility study for submission to the National Economic and Development Authority come December.

"Our indicative target to bid the project is by middle of next year," Yabut said.

The DPWH will also bid out the ₱14.9 billion Central Luzon Link Expressway Phase 1. The project involves the construction of a 30.7-kilometer four-lane road that will diverge from the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway 2.5 kilometers north of the Luisita Interchange and  traverse Central Luzon in the east-west direction, then pass Cabanatuan City, and end at San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

The government will tap foreign aid – also called official development assistance (ODA) – to finance the project, while the operations and maintenance would be packaged under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

Lastly, the ₱10.38 billion Calamba-Los Banos Toll Expressway, which involves the construction of a 14.72-kilometer six-lane road that starts at SLEX Extension and go around Laguna de Bay to converge with a national road at Bay, Laguna.

Earlier, the DPWH received four pre-qualification documents for the ₱35.42 billion Cavite Laguna Expressway Project. The project involves the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of a four-lane, 47-kilometer closed-system toll expressway connecting the Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX) and the Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX).

The four groups are as follows:

• Alloy MTD Philippines Inc, a Malaysian company;
• Team Orion, which is composed of AC Infrastructure Holdings Inc, Aboitiz Land Inc, Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings Philippines, Bouygues Travaux, Egis Road Operations and Korea Expressway Corp;
• MPCALA Holdings Inc, which is led by Metro Pacific Development Corp; and
• Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc, which is led by San Miguel Corp.

The project will start from the CAVITEX in Kawit, Cavite and end at the SLEX-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna.

CALAX is the DPWH's third infrastructure project under the government's public-private partnership (PPP) program. The first project, the Daang Hari-SLEX, was awarded to the Ayala group, while the second, the NAIA Expressway, went to Optimal Infrastructure.

With report from Interaksyon.com

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13 new American base firms look to expand in the Philippines

 

A delegation of 13 leading US companies organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council concluded a visit to the Philippines last week on a buoyant note.

"Many companies on the delegation expressed a desire to expand their investments in the Philippines, which is the best testament to their confidence in the country," said council president Alexander C Feldman.

"The council looks forward to returning to the Philippines in June 2014 with a group of American CEOs to help underscore the seriousness and depth of interest that US business has in this economic success story," he added.

The delegation completed the visit on Wednesday. The mission was aimed at building economic ties and supporting the Philippines' ongoing economic progress.

The members were impressed with the successful reforms undertaken by the Benigno Aquino government.

"We applaud the steps the Aquino administration is taking to generate positive economic performance, and we look forward to working together to ensure that the economic expansion will continue," said the council's Philippines Committee chair, Philip Vaughn. "These steps will no doubt lead to greater investment opportunities for US companies in the Philippines."

Feldman said the Philippines was currently one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and American companies were impressed with macroeconomic reforms that had been executed thus far.

"The business environment has improved greatly through the leadership of President Aquino and his administration's focus on key macroeconomic reforms and good governance.

This progress is generating results as evidenced by the recent promotion of the Philippines to investment grade by Moody's Investors Service, as well as improvements in the world ranking of the Philippines in various surveys by the World Economic Forum, the Heritage Foundation and Transparency International," he added.

The Nation

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