NEW DELHI  — India, the world’s top importer of vegetable oil, will have to spend billions of extra dollars this year to buy more costly cooking oil from overseas and is mulling cutting taxes on those imports to soften the blow to the economy, industry officials have said.

THE climate change crisis, if unaddressed, holds the potential to wipe out the economic gains made by the Philippines in recent years, the Department of Finance (DoF) said Tuesday.

THE Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it is developing a simplified loan application form for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

THE VOLUME of pyramid scheme complaints filed in the four months to April had more than doubled the full-year total for 2020, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved a P65.4-million capital expenditure (capex) application filed by Isabela I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Iselco I) which will go towards the installation of a new power transformer and related equipment in one of its substations.

LANDBANK expands lending program to include ex-extremists

IMPLEMENTATION of nutrition policy needs to be improved to address undernutrition among Filipino children, a Zuellig Family Foundation official said.

THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it is waiting for President Rodrigo R. Duterte to sign a bill that will extend the validity of the estate tax amnesty program for another two years, with the original program set to end Monday.

The House Committee on Ways and Means said it will seek to approve a bill clearing up the ambiguity surrounding the eligibility of private schools to a 1% tax rate before the school year begins.

THE PHILIPPINES is among the emerging markets that have spent little on social safety nets relative to the size of its gross domestic product (GDP), Moody’s Investors Service said in a report.

SENATOR Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who chairs the chamber’s energy committee, has filed a bill seeking to remove the 100-kilowatt (kW) ceiling on generation facilities which can participate in the net metering program, in a bid to encourage more investment in renewable energy (RE).

THE Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said it is looking at establishing a market for ancillary services (AS) to attract investment and ensure transparency in the system.