Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The growth of cash remittances is seen easing to 4.5 percent in August from six percent in July, UK-based investment bank Barclays said. In its Emerging Markets Weekly, the bank said “remittances are expected to dip given a high base,” of $1.9 billion in August last year. Latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data showed money sent home by Filipinos living and working abroad reached $2.06 billion in July, up six percent from the $1.9 billion reported in the same month a year ago. This brought the seven-month total to $13.48 billion, or 5.8 percent higher than the $12.7 billion in the same period in 2013. Personal remittances – cash and non-cash items – also grew 7.1 percent to $2.28 billion in July, bringing the seven-month figure to $14.9 billion. The robust inflows of remittances have been driven by the sustained demand for skilled Filipinos abroad, the central bank said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the BSP said job orders reached 540,037 in the seven months to July. Four-fifths of these jobs are for service, production, and professional, technical and related employment in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Taiwan and Qatar. Moreover, the continuous efforts of domestic banks to expand their remittance services abroad through tie-ups and establishment of offices have supported the growth in remittances. Remittances play a big role in supporting domestic consumption, which remains to be the largest driver of the Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – D&L Industries Inc. said it sees huge potential in its food-related business after it emerged as the fastest growing export of the company in the past five years. Alvin D. Lao, D&L chief finance officer, said the food business is now contributing about 20 percent of the company’s total exports. It was zero five years ago, he said. “The potential is big,” Lao said referring to the export of its food business in the coming years. Overall, D&L Industries’ total exports business is continuing to do well according to Lao, “with first half growth at 31 percent and are now 18 percent of revenues.” Oleo-Fats Inc. (OFI), D&L Industries’ wholly-owned subsidiary, is currently engaged in specialty fats and oils, refined vegetable oils, specialty ingredients, and food safety products. It has over 650 food ingredient formulations serving more than 1,200 customers in the food and beverage industry. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 OFI in August signed a supply agreement with US food manufacturer Ventura Foods, a deal that is expected to further boost D&L’s food-related business into the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement involves the development and production of specialty oils and specialty ingredients for the food service, retail and ingredient manufacturing industries in the Asia-Pacific region. Development and production will be done at OFI’s Mercury Plant in Quezon City. “I don’t know how big it will become yet because it is still early. But I can say that the potential is very big. Initially, Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Subsidies to government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) jumped 75.5 percent in the first eight months of the year, most of which went to healthcare, housing, rice procurement and power. Data from the Department of Finance showed that the national government spent P59.24 billion in subsidies from January to August this year, up from the P33.75 billion disbursed in the same period a year ago. The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) got the biggest financial support at P35.6 billion or 60 percent of the total subsidies granted in the eight months ending August. The Aquino administration’s goal is to provide accessibility of good-quality healthcare services for all Filipinos, mainly through health insurance. The National Housing Authority received the second biggest amount of subsidy at P8.39 billion as the government continued its relocation program for informal settlers living in disaster-prone areas, particularly near waterways in Metro Manila. The third biggest beneficiary was the National Food Authority which received P4.25 billion in financial aid to beef up the country’s rice buffer stock. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The NFA is tasked with supporting rice farmers by buying their harvest at a premium while selling the staple to consumers at a discount. The state grains agency earlier earmarked a budget of P10.3 billion for delivery of rice imports from September to November. Aside from the financial support, the government is also subsidizing NFA’s rice imports through exemption from duties and taxes. The two other agencies that completed Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said the number of listed companies considered compliant with Islamic principles has increased. As of end-September, 53 out of the 265 listed firms adhere to the Shariah standard, up from the 51 out of 260 firms as of end-June. Five firms made its way into the latest Shariah-compliant list while three were kicked out. The new companies that entered the list were Dizon Copper Silver Mines Inc., Keppel Philippines Properties Inc., Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc., The Philodrill Corp and Roxas and Co. Inc., while EEI Corp., Far Eastern University Inc. and Globalport 900 Inc. were the companies that were removed. Companies retained from the Shariah-compliant list are ATN Holdings, Inc. A and B shares, Abra Mining & Industrial Corp., Bogo-Medellin Milling Co. Inc., Concepcion Industrial Corp., Da Vinci Capital Holdings Inc.,, Forum Pacific Inc., IRC Properties Inc., Island Information & Technology Inc., Now Corp., SPC Power Corp., Swift Foods Inc., United Paragon Mining Corp. and Wellex Industries Inc. Other companies that made the list are Apex Mining Inc., Araneta Properties Inc., Asian Terminals Inc., Calapan Ventures Inc., Centro Escolar University, Chemrez Technologies Inc., Cirtek Holdings Philippines Inc., D&L Industries Inc., DMCI Holdings Inc., Holcim Philippines Inc., iPeople Inc., Jollibee Foods Corp., Lafarge Republic Inc., Liberty Flour Mills Inc., Mabuhay Vinyl Corp., Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp., Manila Electric Co., Marcventures Holdings Inc., Nickel Asia Corp., Oriental Peninsula Resources Group Inc., Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc., Philex Mining Corp., Philex Petroleum Corp., Philippine Long Distance Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will likely end moves to adjust interest rates this year, but is poised to continue raising rates by early 2015, a leading bank economist said. JPMorgan, Chase Bank chief Asean economist Sin Beng Ong said the BSP would hike rates just once in mid-2015.  “Thus (the BSP) has taken out the two overnight reverse repo (RR) hikes that were penciled in for fourth quarter this year and first semester of 2015,” Sin added. The BSP tightening this year has been symmetric. There have been two 100 basis points (bps) RR hikes, two 25 bps special deposit accounts (SDA) rate hikes, and two 25 bps policy rate hikes. With food inflation easing in September and global commodity prices having eased recently, the inflation trajectory in 2015 has been revised down and the forecast trajectory now sits at the mid-point rather than the upper end of the two- to four-percent BSP inflation target for 2015. This thus reduces the need for the BSP to signal its concerns over inflationary risks, Sin said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The economist said only one rate hike expected in mid-2015, taking other two prior hikes out. The currently low level of onshore peso rates against the dollar rates remains a risk that could catalyze currency substitution. “We see the BSP hiking its overnight reverse repo and SDA rate by 25 bps in mid-2015 following the anticipated hike in the (US) Fed funds Read More …