PH still at bottom of BMI’s Q1 mining index
Credit to Author: EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ| Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2019 16:19:47 +0000
THE Philippines continues to languish at the bottom of the Business Monitor International (BMI) Research’s Asia Mining Risk/Reward Index for the first quarter of 2019 due to policy uncertainty seen to hit against growth and investments in the country’s mining industry in the coming years.
In a report released on Thursday, the Fitch Group unit said the Philippines is a regional laggard, scoring 42.6 out of 100 in the index it created to track mining risk and rewards. The average for Asian counties is 55.1.
Along with Myanmar, which scored 45.5, the Philippines would “continue to underperform,” in the Asia region, the Fitch group said. “[These] two countries are characterised by weak mining reserves, poor regulatory framework, corruption and increasing resource nationalism,” it added.
The BMI said rampant income inequality, corruption and political uncertainty, increasing resource nationalism would also hurt the local mining industry in the coming years.
“[D]espite the replacement of anti-mining Environmental Minister Gina Lopez with more accommodating Roy Cimatu in 2017, government regulations on the basis of environmental protection and general policy uncertainty will continue to plague the mining industry in the coming years,” BMI said.
Industry and political problems loomed the local mining industry since the term of President Benigno Aquiono 3rd who signed the Executive
Order 79 in 2012 that banned nationwide the grant of mining permits until a new mining revenue-shairng scheme is legislated. In her first memorandum order, Lopez also ordered a freeze on the acceptance, processing and approval of applications for both metallic and nonmettalic mines.
Last month, the Department of Finance (DoF) proposed that all existing taxes and fees on the mining industry and a royalty of 5 percent on gross output paid to the government on all mining operations shall be retained for all mining operations.
Revenues from the royalty for mining operations, whether large-scale or small; metallic or non-metallic minerals extraction; or located inside or outside of mineral reservations, was seen to bring in an estimated P7.2 billion in incremental revenues.
Meanwhile, the BMI report showed that Australia topped the index, which scored 76.5, on the back of positive business environment, rich mineral deposits and supportive infrastructure.
It was followed by Mongolia, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Completing the list are Japan, Thailand, South Korea, China, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines.
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