By: ABS-CBN News
The head of a retail industry group on Wednesday said the liberalization of the Philippines retail trade sector should be delayed as smaller local players may be unable to compete with new foreign entrants because of the effect of the pandemic on local businesses.
Rosemarie Bosch-Ong, President of the Philippines Retailers Association and SVP and Chief Operations Officer of Wilcon Depot, said efforts to remove barriers to entry for foreign retailers should be postponed considering how badly medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) have been affected by the pandemic.
Last September, the Senate passed a bill seeking to amend Republic Act No. 8762 or the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA) of 2000 by lowering the minimum paid-up capital for foreign retail investors to $300,000.
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