Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI) is keeping its seven to 11 percent growth projection for total electronic exports in 2014 amid positive performance of the sector in the January to November period. “With a month to go, 2014 full-year export growth is expected to be in the seven to 11 percent range.  At the end of the year, the industry is looking at total electronic exports between $23.3 billion to $24.2 billion,” the SEIPI said in an email sent to reporters. The group had an initial forecast of five percent growth for electronic shipments for full-year 2014 from $21.823 billion in 2013. In the third quarter of last year, the SEIPI hiked its industries growth forecast to five to eight percent and raised the projection anew in December to seven to 11 percent, citing strong global demand for electronic products. Latest available data showed that cumulative exports of electronic products grew by 7.95 percent to $23.50 billion as of end-November 2014 from $21.77 billion in the same period in 2013. This, as exports of almost all electronic products increased, except for automotive electronics that decreased by 58.8 percent. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The big gainers are EDP (electronic data processing)  at 30.2 percent, office equipment at 31.7 percent, consumer electronics at 15.9 percent, communication/radar at 41.5 percent, control and instrumentation at 130.2 percent and medical/industrial instrumentation at 92.1 percent. For the month of November alone, outbound shipments Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Fresh from a highly successful international bond sale, the Philippine government is now in a more comfortable position to jumpstart top priority projects which include the upgrade of the country’s transportation system and the construction of more schools. Last Tuesday, the country sold $2 billion worth of 25-year bonds in the global market with a yield of 3.95 percent annually, the lowest ever average borrowing cost for IOUs issued by the Philippine government. Of the total proceeds, $500 million would be used to fund this year’s budget while the bigger portion of $1.5 billion would cover the swap and retirement of old bonds. Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said the $500 million in new capital raised from the global bond offering gives the national government enough fiscal space to address its budgetary requirements. “We will be able to devote funds that would have gone to debt principal and interest payments, to urgent priority projects and programs instead,” Abad said. “Thanks to the funds generated by this offering, we will find ourselves in a better position to upgrade our commuter rail system, build more schools and hire more teachers, and strengthen other government programs designed to fight poverty and catalyze economic growth,” he added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Abad said education reform remains one of the key priorities of the Aquino administration given the shortage of classrooms nationwide. The two chambers of Congress approved last month the proposed P22.5 billion supplemental budget, which Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has increased the number of listed firms found compliant with the moral code and religious law of Islam. As of end-December last year, eight companies have been added to the lineup of listed companies considered adhering to the Shariah standard. No company, meanwhile, exited the list in the PSE’s recent quarterly update as opposed to the three firms which were kicked out of the roster during the previous quarter. The PSE said 61 of the more than 260 listed companies adhere to the Shariah standard, up from 53 in the October list.The new companies that joined the ranks of Shariah-complaint firms were APC Group Inc., Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp., EEI Corp., Globe Telecom Inc., MacroAsia Corp., NIHAO Mineral Resources International Inc., SSI Group Inc., and Trans-Asia Petroleum Corp. Companies retained in 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.,, Dizon Copper Silver Mines Inc., Forum Pacific Inc., IRC Properties Inc., Island Information & Technology Inc., Keppel Philippines Properties Inc., Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc., Now Corp., The Philodrill Corp., Roxas and Co. Inc., 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., Read More …

FAVORABLE demand and supply conditions continue to point to a rosy outlook for the economy despite low government spending and prolonged uncertainties abroad, monetary authorities noted in their last policy meeting for 2014.

MANILA, Philippines – BDO Unibank has partnered with Emirates NBD, the leading bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for the latter’s money transfer service called Direct Remit 60 Seconds. The service was introduced last month to the Philippines and is known as the fastest direct bank transfer service in the UAE. It enables the transfer of Philippine peso to BDO bank accounts in 60 seconds. Direct Remit 60 Seconds benefits the remittance beneficiaries of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), numbering over 700,000, stationed in the various parts of the UAE region, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “This is another channel that will bring security and ease to our remitters,” BDO senior vice president for remittance distribution Geneva T. Gloria said. Gloria described the alliance with Emirates as a good fit because of the resemblance between the two banks. Both are leading industry players in their respective countries and serving a considerable number of Filipino clients. “Most of their Filipino clients who maintain an account with them are also enrolled in Emirates’ online banking facility. Using this platform, these customers can send money to the Philippines anytime, anywhere and can also pay their bills, insurance premiums or loans payments via their BDO accounts,” she added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 International money transfers, mainly personal remittances, amounted to $22 billion in the first 10 months of 2014, or 6.7 percent higher than remittances in the same period in 2013. Filipinos deployed to the UAE rank second Read More …