AN electronics industry group said it sees increased demand this year for technologies that support the “new normal.”
The Semiconductors and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc (SEIPI) said demand for gadgets for distance learning and telecommuting, as well as e-vehicles and medical electronics, will increase and lead the sector to grow seven percent this year.
This is an improvement from an expected five percent to 10 percent contraction for the full year of 2020.
SEIPI President Dan Lachica however also said that while demand is picking up, the supply chain is far from normal despite efforts to augment capacity.
Lachica said while revisiting Charter change is laudable, lawmakers should consider tweaking existing bills like the CREATE or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act, to make the Philippines more competitive than peers like Vietnam in the current business climate.
“Vietnam is gaining the most FDI (foreign direct investments),” Lachica said.
“While we are happy [the] CREATE bill lowers corporate income taxes, it needs to adjust provisions like lower cap of PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) incentives,” said Lachica.
“For example – the cap for PEZA IPA incentives is at P1 billion ($20 million) an expansion alone already costs $100 million or (P5 billion). We need to move up the number,” he added. (ABS-CBN News)
