DAVAO CITY — The planned 35-kilometer coastal road here, which will cost P34 billion to complete with a reclamation component, has been allocated an initial P1.98 billion in the 2017 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), a regional official said.
In a briefing yesterday during the Businessworld and Philippine Airlines Asean Regional Forum, ADB country economist Aekopol Chongvilaivan said the reason for the upward revision is the country’s better-than-expected economic growth in the third quarter of the year. MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised upward anew its economic growth projection for the Philippines to 6.8 percent for 2016 and 6.4 percent for 2017. This is ADB’s third revision after a revised 6.4 percent and 6.2 percent economic growth forecast for 2016 and 2017, respectively. The original forecast was six percent for 2016 and 6.1 percent for 2017. In a briefing yesterday during the Businessworld and Philippine Airlines Asean Regional Forum, ADB country economist Aekopol Chongvilaivan said the reason for the upward revision is the country’s better-than-expected economic growth in the third quarter of the year. “Basically, it’s because of the third quarter (performance). Growth is much higher than expected and export performance is much better than expected and this is supported by a weaker peso,” Chongvilaivan said. Exports rose to $5.211 billion in September from $4.960 billion a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). On the other hand, Chongvilaivan said fourth quarter GDP may go down slightly due to the uncertain global economy. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “We expect to be slightly going down due to the uncertain global economy so we expect fourth quarter to slow down from the third quarter,” Chongvilaivan said. The Philippine economy grew Read More …
Po Sr. MANILA, Philippines – It’s all systems go for the stock market debut of pizza chain Shakey’s Philippines after the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) approved this week the company’s planned initial public offering (IPO), the final requirement for the listing scheduled on Dec. 15. “We already approved it,” PSE president Hans Sicat said yesterday. Earlier, Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc (SPAVI), the leading full-service restaurant in the country owned by the Po family, also secured the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the corporate regulator. SPAVI seeks to raise up to P5.5 billion from the IPO to be used for debt repayment, capital requirements and strategic acquisitions. According to the prospectus filed with the SEC, the company will sell up to 352 million primary and secondary shares, including an over allotment of 46 million shares to cater for extra demand. SPAVI has set a maximum price of P15.58 each with the final price setting date scheduled on Nov. 28. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The offer period will run from Dec. 2 to 8, according to underwriter BDO Capital & Investment Corp. Filipino-Chinese businessman Ricardo Po Sr., the family patriarch, has said the company is proceeding with the listing on Dec. 15 despite the perceived market volatility. “We will proceed with the listing as scheduled. The investors are all interested,” Po told The STAR. SPAVI is majority owned by the Po Family’s Century Pacific Group Inc (CPGI), parent company of Philippine listed Century Read More …
The local currency shed 12 centavos to close at 49.98 from Wednesday’s 49.86 to $1. This was the weakest level since the peso closed at 49.99 to $1 on Nov. 20, 2008 or during the height of the global financial crisis. MANILA, Philippines – The peso briefly breached the 50 to $1 level yesterday, echoing the weakening of the regional currencies amid the release of minutes from a US Fed meeting indicating the agency is poised to raise interest rates next month. The peso opened weak at 49.86 before hitting an intra-day low of 50 to $1. The local currency shed 12 centavos to close at 49.98 from Wednesday’s 49.86 to $1. This was the weakest level since the peso closed at 49.99 to $1 on Nov. 20, 2008 or during the height of the global financial crisis. Trading volume increased 21.4 percent to $437.6 million from Wednesday’s $360.5 million due to strong demand. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the peso’s downtrend trajectory is an expected reaction of the local currency to the anticipated early rate increase by the US Fed, with other Asian currencies also moving in the same direction. “We are watching the currency movements very closely. We seem to be moving in the same direction as the other currencies. We just want to avoid abrupt changes in the exchange rates,” Dominguez said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 But he added the country’s rock solid macroeconomic fundamentals would enable the domestic economy to survive Read More …
In principle I am for free trade. It makes no sense to protect local industries that have failed to be competitive for decades. Foreign competition encourages domestic industries to become more efficient and this benefits local consumers. We have to avoid rent seeking that protects infant industries that never grow up. This is how the entrenched elite behind these non-competitive local industries use government protectionist policies to abuse domestic consumers. But we must stand up against unfair competition from foreign manufacturers. We must not allow them to threaten the viability of local industries that are showing a lot of promise and are already making headway. Dumping is one example of unfair trade. Dumping happens when imports are priced below reasonable manufacturing cost. China, for instance, subsidizes state owned manufacturers so they can afford to sell below production cost like what is happening in the steel industry. President Duterte has said time and again that he wants a strong steel industry to serve as the cornerstone of our industrialization program. But will his words turn into action in the face of unfair competition from China? The local steel industry is now asking President Duterte to stop smuggling and importation of dumped steel products from China. There has been a surge of rebars imported from China, even if there is sufficient local manufacturing capacity. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Our steel industry is essentially steel rebar manufacturing that is slowly expanding to other products. Local industry capacity is Read More …
Bargain hunters continued to lift the stock market yesterday, sustaining Wednesday’s gains and reversing the downward trend last Monday and Tuesday. AP Photo/Bullit Marquez MANILA, Philippines – Bargain hunters continued to lift the stock market yesterday, sustaining Wednesday’s gains and reversing the downward trend last Monday and Tuesday. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) grew 36.67 percent to 0.54 percent to finish at 6,873.31, while the broader All Shares index gained 21.54 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 4,170.64. Most indices ended in positive territory led by mining and oil counter which gained 271.06 points or 2.23 percent. Total value turnover reached P6.17 billion. Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners, 113 to 65 while 47 stocks were left unchanged. Analysts said bargain hunting perked up yesterday’s trading session. Among the top gainers during yesterday’s session are Oriental Peninsula Resources (up 17.80 percent to P1.39), Dizon Copper Silver Mines Inc. (up 13.18 percent to close at P12.88), Bogo Medellin Milling (up 11.11 percent to finish at P100) and Arthaland Corp. (up 10 percent to close at P0.33 percent). Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 However, despite the gains, the PSEi remained below the 7,000 mark. In an interview yesterday, Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) president Hans Sicat said the market remains affected by global volatility. “It’s due to external factors,” Sicat said. Despite the volatility, he expressed optimism that fund raising activity through the local stock market remains a viable option for many companies.
THE Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP) said it expects a doubling in the number of contractors accredited for infrastructure projects by year’s end.
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will seek to increase tariffs on offal imports in order to head off a commonly-used avenue to misdeclare imports of meat products.
The earliest set of rules governing the establishment and operation of a financing company in the Philippines — Republic Act No. 5980, otherwise known as “The Financing Company Act” — dates back to the ’70s. Since then, the law, including its rules and regulations, went through several amendments in a span of almost five decades. The first instance occurred during the late ’70s through Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1454 and the second was during the early ’80s via PD No. 1793. The two decrees amended only a single provision, which is Section 5 of the law. PD No. 1454 replaced the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the Central Bank’s Monetary Board (CB-MB) as the government agency empowered to prescribe the maximum rate of purchase discounts, fees, service and other charges of a financing company, while PD No. 1793 expanded such power by authorizing the CB-MB to eliminate, grant exemptions from or suspend the effectivity of prevailing rates whenever warranted by economic or social conditions.
The transition team of Donald Trump has been very busy helping the US president-elect vet the potential members of his White House staff and Cabinet, starting with Reince Priebus as chief of staff, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general and retired general Michael Flynn as national security adviser. A lot of Cabinet positions are still waiting to be filled, including that of state secretary (said to be a toss-up between former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney). Businessmen, however, are closely monitoring Donald Trump’s picks for his economic team that include the secretaries for Commerce and Treasury, as well as directors for the Office of Management and Budget, and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Much earlier, Trump released a video message reiterating his presidency would focus on “putting America first,” with subsequent executive actions that would underscore this core principle. Trump has already announced he would junk the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP (which he characterized as a potential disaster) and instead called for “fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry among American shores. “Whether it’s producing steel, building cars or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, on our great homeland: America – creating wealth and jobs for American workers,” Trump’s video message went. Official data says the US unemployment rate is at 4.9 percent, although many are convinced that “real unemployment” is much higher, most likely at 20 percent. Trump’s campaign Read More …