By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, Nov. 18 (PNA) — The G20 economies are eyeing to slash remittance cost in which the Philippines can take advantage of.
Australian Embassy Economic Counsellor in Manila Daniel Featherston told reporters Tuesday that the G20 — which Australia is a country-member — is targeting to reduce remittance cost from an average of 8.0 percent to about 5.0 percent in the coming years.
G20 economies are composed of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
Featherston said the Philippines, though not a member of G20, can benefit on this goal as many overseas Filipinos are working in G20 economies who are sending money back home.
“That’s a big deal for the Philippines. We’ve seen Filipinos in working in G20 countries. The Philippines makes billion of dollars in remittances,” he said.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that cash remittances in the first nine months of the year increased to USD17.6 billion, higher by 6.1 percent than last year’s USD16.6 billion.
Meanwhile, for Australian government alone, Featherston mentioned that they are now in talks with the Philippine government to pursue the automatic exchange of tax information.
He added that the Australian Taxation Office and the Bureau of Internal Revenue are working together to push through with the tax information cooperation.
He noted that this is an important cooperation between Australia and the Philippines as both countries have significant business investments to each other. (PNA)