Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) is beefing up its budget for capital expenditures this year by $75 million (P3.375 billion at P45:$1) to bankroll its overseas and domestic expansion projects. ICTSI assistant corporate secretary Benjamin Gorospe III said the company’s board of directors approved the appropriation of a portion of ICTSI’s existing retained earnings. The port giant has yet to announce its capital expenditures for 2015 but has allocated $310 million for 2014 to expand its flagship Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) and bankroll its overseas expansion particularly in Mexico, Argentina, Honduras, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. ICTSI is spending P3 billion to expand MICT and to put up an inland container depot in Laguna.                          ICTSI has allocated P1.6 billion to bankroll the first phase of the expansion project of MICT through the development of six hectares of new yard space. The listed port operator has completed Phase 1 of the company’s berth seven-yard development by deploying four hectares of new yard space to serve as empty container depot that could store up to 4,300 containers in moderate wind conditions. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Furthermore, another two hectares would be competed by yearend bringing to 6,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) the total capacity of the new empty container depot. ICTSI said the new yard is part of the company’s expansion project for the MICT aimed at immediately addressing growing volumes at the Port of Manila. The expansion Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine exporters are looking to enter new markets to grow revenues by 10 percent in 2015. According to Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc., Senen Perlada, executive director of the public-private Export Development Council and director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Export Marketing Bureau, said local exporters are looking for opportunities to expand market share and penetrate new markets. “Hopefully, we can extend a bit our markets maybe to more of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Plus (countries). (And) I think maybe Turkey, hopefully a bit of Brazil and Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) countries,” he said. The GCC groups Middle Eastern countries United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Top markets for Philippine exports at present include Japan, US and China. Apart from bringing its products to new markets, Perlada said the country would also focus on job-creating export industries. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “We will focus on those products that will contribute to inclusive growth. These include crustacean, mollusks, fresh and processed foods, still electronics and halal organic and natural products,” he said. Under the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) for 2014 to 2016 submitted by the EDC to President Aquino, total exports are targeted to grow by 8- to 9.3 percent in 2014 from $78.5 billion in 2013. Earlier, the DTI said exports in 2014 may grow by 10- to 11-percent given the recovery of the electronics sector Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Domestic liquidity growth slid below 10 percent in November, reflecting the adjustments made by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in banks’ reserve requirement ratios and in the special deposit account (SDA) rate. M3 – the broadest measure of liquidity – expanded nine percent to P7.304 trillion in November from P6.7 trillion in the same month a year ago. The rate was a further deceleration from 15.4 percent in October and 16.2 percent recorded in September.  “Money supply continued to increase due largely to the sustained demand for credit,” the BSP said. Domestic claims went up 17.6 percent to P6.756 trillion in November due to the increase in loans extended to the private sector. The central bank noted bulk of the loans went to the real estate, renting, and business services, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, financial intermediation, utilities, and transportation, storage and communication sectors. Public sector loans, meanwhile, climbed 14.6 percent to P1.857 trillion on a rise in investments in government securities. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 BSP data also showed net foreign assets increased two percent to P3.657 trillion in November. Banks’ net foreign assets rose as their assets grew at a faster pace compared to the expansion in their liabilities, while such of the BSP’s contracted versus a year ago on lower gross international reserves. The central bank earlier in the year raised the banks’ reserve requirements by 200 basis points and the SDA rate by 25 basis points to pull Read More …

THE Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 will produce a guidebook on tourism development plans for local government units (LGU) in Cebu Province starting in February. DOT 7 Director Rowena Montecillo said the guidebook will serve as a tool to help LGUs craft their tourism plans. “The aim here is to help LGUs become DOT-independent in terms of making their own tourism plans because these plans should really be initiated by them. DOT’s intervention will come in the form of technical assistance that will suit the community,” said Montecillo. She said the guidebook will help educate and determine the function of local tourism officers and local chief executives in the development of their local tourism roadmaps. DOT 7 has increased its efforts in developing new tourism destinations in the countryside. Montecillo reported more LGUs in Cebu are now active in implementing their own tourism development plan, most of them as eco-tourism destinations. “More LGUs are now aware of the growth opportunities tourism can bring to their locality in terms of income and job generation.Those areas with high potential in tourism have been working closely with the DOT in terms of technical and marketing help,” said Montecillo. She said more LGUs need proper training in crafting their tourism development plan. “There are some who don’t know their tourism plans while others don’t know what to do with their tourism sites but they are starting to learn. We are hoping this guidebook will help them,” she said. Montecillo cited Malabuyoc as an example Read More …

CONSTRUCTION of a fifth terminal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is expected to start in 2016, the Transportation department said, with plans for a third runway now on hold on the advice of consultants studying the project.