RP sells Y100B Samurai bonds

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government yesterday went for the limit, selling 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) worth of Samurai bonds during a pricing session in Tokyo...(more)

BIR seeks DOJ opinion on SICPA

BY DENNIS GADIL

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is seeking the opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the cases filed by tobacco farmers against revenue officials who are directly negotiating a contract with Swiss firm SICPA Product Security for its stamp-tax proposal...(more)

Fujimi negotiated bidding fails

BY DENNIS GADIL

It’s back to square one...(more)

Ayala Land no longer interested in FTI

By Dennis Gadil

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has backed out from the race to acquire and develop the sprawling Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) complex in Taguig City despite fresh signals from government that it was willing to slash its asking price of P13 billion...(more)

No SICPA signing yet, say DOF, BIR

BY DENNIS GADIL

Finance secretary Margarito Teves and BIR Commissioner Joel Tan Tan Torres yesterday said they have not signed any document endorsing the unsolicited proposal of Swiss firm SICPA Product Security S.A. for its stamp-tax technology project that aims to curb cigarette and alcohol smuggling...(more)

No escaping tax hike, Teves tells next admin

Finance secretary Margarito Teves yesterday expressed strong doubts that the new administration can escape the sweltering heat of a ballooning deficit without having to resort to raising taxes...(more) - Dennis Gadil

Barclays sees P325B deficit

BY DENNIS GADIL

While the economy is poised for a recovery this year, the budget deficit is likely to rise to P325 billion or almost equivalent to 4 percent of the gross national product, a British investment bank said in its latest report...(more)

JBIC guarantee on bonds till 2011

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) on Tuesday signed a guarantee cover for the bond float in the Japanese market scheduled to start next week...(more)

Gov’t to offer tax incentives with RTBs

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government is lacing its planned offering of retail treasury bonds (RTBs) to overseas workers with a slew of tax incentives to make the issuance more attractive...(more)

P7.14B lost in DA’s ‘wasteful’ operation

BY DENNIS GADIL

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is the hands down "top performer" in wasteful fund management either through bungled project implementation or missing and diverted funds...(more)

NG debt stock up by P1B in Nov

BY DENNIS GADIL

The national government debt stock inched up by P1 billion in November last year to P4.425 trillion from October’s P4.424 trillion, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported yesterday...(more)

DOF blocks senior citizens bill

BY DENNIS GADIL

The Department of Finance (DOF) is blocking the signing into law of the measure expanding tax cuts for senior citizens, primarily their exemption from the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT)...(more)

Gov’t pares down revenue targets

BY DENNIS GADIL

Despite expectations of an economic recovery this year, the government has allowed its top revenue agencies to reduce their combined full-year revenue targets from P1.335 trillion to P1.284 trillion...(more)

Even the dead shall not escape BIR’s eye

BY DENNIS GADIL

Tax men will monitor obituaries more closely to raise collection of estate tax as part of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s "Rest in Peace" Project...(more)

COA finds P100M illegal bonuses in ’08

Government agencies and state universities (SUCs) have illegally awarded themselves with P100 million worth of honoraria and bonuses in 2008 and are being told to refund the amount...(more) - Dennis Gadil

Gov’t has no money to jumpstart strip stamp tax

BY DENNIS GADIL

The Department of Finance (DOF) is not sure where to get "counterpart funding" for the cigarette and liquor strip stamp tax technology of Swiss firm SICPA Product Security SA once the latter is awarded the contract by the Bureau of Internal Revenue...(more)

T-bill rates move sideways

BY DENNIS GADIL

Interest rates for short-term debt papers moved sideways in yesterday’s auction with the yield for the benchmark 91-day Treasury bills (T-bills) going up by 3.8 basis points to 3.935 percent from the previous 3.897 percent...(more)

Gov’t to sign Samurai guarantee on Feb. 17

BY DENNIS GADIL

After more than half a year of delay, the government is finally signing a guarantee agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for its planned $1 billion Samurai bond offering...(more)

Revenue loss seen increasing with 4 tax measures this year

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government is looking at more losses this year from recent revenue-eroding measures...(more)

RVAT collections seen up this year

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government is expecting collections of P78.85 billion from the reformed value added tax (RVAT) this year, up P2.9 billion from last year’s preliminary estimate of P75.985 billion...(more)

Deficit tweaking left to next admin

BY DENNIS GADIL

Deficit chasers in the government will leave the "honor" of putting lower figures on the deficit board to the incoming president should the economy stage a strong recovery after the May elections...(more)

Big banks seen to increase microfinance participation

BY DENNIS GADIL

Unspent and un-invested savings racked up by the private sector are seen as growth booster for the expanding microfinance industry, with big banks finally taking notice and wanting a piece of the P70 billion market...(more)

Government expects 2.6% Q1 GDP

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government is confident that the economy will perform better in the first quarter of 2010 by posting a 2.6 percent economic growth on the back of a fast-recovering export sector, a senior finance official said yesterday...(more)

Treasury rejects bids on 7-yr bonds

Lack of clearer signals on the policy direction of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and concerns over the budget deficit prompted investors to press for higher yields, prompting government to fight back by rejecting all bids for the 7-year Treasury bonds yesterday...(more) - Dennis Gadil

Privatization woes pull down non-tax revenues for 2009

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government ended 2009 with lower non-tax revenues of P148.2 billion from the P153.7 billion it generated in 2008, preliminary data from the finance department (DOF) showed...(more)

Recovery uncertain

BY DENNIS GADIL

The government remains uncertain of a strong economic recovery in 2011 so it plans to incur a deficit of P180.5 billion representing 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP)...(more)

BOC 2009 shortfall looms at P51.4B

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) might have collected more last December, higher than the earlier estimate of P15.9 billion for a total of P19.360 billion, which is P583 million better than its P18.8 billion collection in the same month in 2008...(more) Dennis Gadil