(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte asked Congress on Monday, July 27, to fast-track the passage of several economic measures to help the country recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three of these are the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act which will supplement funds for the recovery and response against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Corporate Recovery and the Tax Incentives for Enterprises or CREATE Act, and the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer or FIST Act.
The CREATE Act aims to “immediately cut corporate income levy from the current 30 to 25 percent and give the government flexibility to grant a combination of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, among others,” the Palace said.
President Duterte during his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) also thanked the members of Congress for passing the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act do address the country’s needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he said said that more laws should be passed to enable the government to address the effects of the virus pandemic while the vaccine for this is being developed.
“We must facilitate the country‘s economic recovery,” Duterte said as he called on Congress to pass the CREATE Act and the FIST Act.
He said that the CREATE Act, which immediately cuts the corporate income levy from the current 30 to 25 percent, will “give the government flexibility to grant a combination of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, among others.”
The FIST Act, on the other hand, “will set up mechanisms allowing banks and other financial institutions to dispose of and transfer non-performing assets and loans to asset management companies similar to Special Purpose Vehicles,” Duterte said.
(Eagle News Service)
