Spain supports PHL infrastructure, tax reform programs — DOF

The government of Spain fully supports the Duterte administration's 10-point socioeconomic agenda, particularly the tax reform program and the plan to accelerate infrastructure spending, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

Spanish Ambassador to Manila Luis Antonio Calvo Castaño told Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III in a meeting on Tuesday that the Spanish government is “very encouraged by the 10-point socioeconomic agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte," the DOF said a statement on Wednesday.

Castaño supposedly said that Spanish companies are interested in investing in Philippine infrastructure development, particularly in rail projects, noting that Spain has the second largest high-speed railway network in the world next to China.

The Philippines plans to raise infrastructure spending from 3 percent to 5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), to be complemented by legislative amendments that would relax the Constitution’s economic restrictions.

Higher spending on infrastructure outside the National Capital Region would help the administration reduce the poverty rate to 17 percent by the end of the President's term in 2022, from 26 percent in 2015, Dominguez noted.

The proposed tax reform program is aimed at reducing personal and corporate income taxes, while simplifying and improving tax administration, adjusting fuel excise taxes, imposing a sugar tax as a health measure, and plugging leakages in value-added tax (VAT) exemptions.

Castaño said that DOF’s tax plan is “on point, progressive, and would help ease the burden of the middle class and vulnerable sectors.”

Dominguez and Castaño also discussed the proposed memorandum of understanding on economic and financial cooperation between the Philippines and Spain.

The agreement aims to explore cooperation in agriculture, industry, energy and services, water infrastructure, climate finance, environmental economics, and disaster risk finance. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News