by Roderick T. dela Cruz
THE World Bank has listed the Philippines as among the world’s most restrictive countries in allowing foreign capital into the economy.
“Among the 87 countries covered by the Investing Across Sectors indicators, the Philippines imposes foreign equity ownership restrictions on more sectors than most other countries,” said a new World Bank report called Investing Across Borders 2010.
The Philippines was lumped along with Ethiopia and Thailand with an indicator score of 0 for several sectors.
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The Philippines, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, are listed as the only nations that do not allow foreign companies to lease public land. The Philippines also received poor scores for imposing ownership limitations on many industries, in particular on the primary and service sectors.
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The study notes that two additional procedures are required exclusively of a foreign-owned company establishing a subsidiary in Manila: an authenticated and legalized copy of the documents of the parent company abroad and another set of registration documents with the Bureau of Customs.
“This registration usually takes 27 days,” the report says.
It says the Philippine Constitution also prohibits foreign companies from buying land and the best option available is to lease private land. A foreign company’s exercise of rights over the land such as subleasing, subdivision, or making improvements is limited by the terms of the lease contract.