BOI OKs inclusion of chain support of supply in SIPP

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the Board of Investments (BOI) have finally resolved the classification of ecozone logistics service enterprises (ELSEs) as “export enterprises” that could benefit from the perks under the Strategic

Investment Priority Plan (SIPP).

The PEZA shared with the media on Tuesday Memorandum Circular (MC) 2023-010 dated Feb. 3, 2023 that recognizes ELSEs as exporters under the 2022 SIPP’s activities in support of exporters.

Diokno expects inflation to decelerate starting Q1

The country’s inflation rate surged further to a fresh 14-year high of 8.7 percent in January, exceeding expectations and its likely peak in December 2022 but Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno targets deceleration starting this quarter partly due to declining oil prices.

“This is in view of the active lobbying and relentless efforts of PEZA through our letter to the BOI dated 24 February 2022, Position Paper dated 8 September 2022 to the Fiscal Incentives Review Board - Technical Committee (FIRTB-TC), and com- ments/inputs on the BOI MC, for the inclusion and recognition of ELSEs as activities in support of exporters and thus, entitled to the VAT (value-added tax) zero-rating incentive,” the MC read.

Before the Corporate

“Think with peso stabilizing, oil prices falling, and relatively mild La Niña (less unpredictable weather in the first half of the year). I expect the deceleration of prices to start in Q1 (first quarter) 2023,” he told journalists in a Viber message on Tuesday.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier in the day reported that upticks in the annual rate of price increases for housing, water, electricity, and gas and other fuels, at 8.5 percent from 7 percent in

December 2022, drove inflation for the month.

The inflation rate in January 2022 is lower at 3 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil items, also accelerated to 7.4 percent from December 2022’s 6.9 percent. The year-ago level was 1.8 percent.

Diokno said January’s inflation rate surpassed the central bank’s inflation forecast of between 7.5 percent and 8.3 percent, and private sector economists’ median projection of 7.6 percent.

Amid this development, Diokno said, “the President remains on top of the situation as the administration continues to adopt a whole-of-government approach to tame inflation, especially on key food FDIOKNO, P10