Friday, June 5, 2009

The Debts of the Spenders: Philippines Passes REIT Bill

The Philippines is an out of the way destination on the Asian roadmap for most travelers seeking more dynamic destinations in the Pacific. Still, there is a lot of promise in this former Spanish colony and American protectorate. For one thing, labor costs remain low and there has been a recent boom in optical wire laying.

Filipino businesses have been competing quite vigorously w/Indian contractors to attract back office development projects in office parks. The population is also (arguably) more English fluent. The credit crunch hit the Philippines just as hard as any other developing country last year but as an emerging market on the cusp of frontier status, the Philippines holds a bit more promise in terms of gain. Politically, things have certainly improved a lot from last year when rogue generals decided that walking out in the middle of their courtroom trial and commandeering a hotel for a coup de etat was considered normal business.


MANILA -(Dow Jones)- The Philippine House of Representatives approved Wednesday the Real Estate Investment Trust or REIT bill, which is expected to spur investment in the country.

The bill will be taken up by a bicameral committee involving the Senate, which approved its own version in March.

"The House' approval of the bill introducing REITs will soon pave the way for investors to become owners of various income-generating properties as well as to directly benefit from the revenues earned by these REITs," Philippine Stock Exchange President and Chief Executive Francis Lim said in a statement Thursday.

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