Maniolas

AN additional P4 billion will be given to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) after the agency plans to remove a fee it collects from farmers.

GOVERNMENT agencies are crafting a new policy covering the use of coal for power generation that takes off from the new administration’s pronouncement to go slow in abiding by international commitments limiting the use of greenhouse-gas emitting energy sources.

Jordan Clark, left, and Lewis Gutierrez sit in Prospect Park as they talk about their new “Pokemon Go” business in the Brooklyn borough of New York. They are among the new entrepreneurs who offer their services as “trainers” for the game at $20 per hour – logging onto a client’s “Pokemon Go” account and effectively running up their score while a client is stuck at work or sitting in class. AP/Ezra Kaplan NEW YORK — Too busy with your real life to play the hit augmented reality game “Pokemon Go”? For a price, some entrepreneurs will play the game for you. New ads are popping up on Craigslist nearly every day from people who say they will log on to your “Pokemon Go” account and effectively run up your score while you are stuck at work or sitting in class. On a recent July afternoon, two 24-year-old Pokemon “trainers,” Lewis Gutierrez and Jordan Clark, walked through Brooklyn’s Prospect Park with their eyes glued to their phones, tapping and swiping away to catch virtual Pokemon for clients paying about $20 per hour for the service. Gutierrez, who described himself as a welder and writer, said he began by helping relatives with the game after it was released in the U.S. in early July. Then he put a post on Craigslist advertising his services professionally.  He said he was immediately inundated with requests from potential customers and had to recruit Clark, a part-time wine purveyor, to help. “I couldn’t even do it Read More …

BSP indicators point to faster pace than in Q1 MANILA, Philippines – The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth likely accelerated in the second quarter of the year, a ranking official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday. BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the GDP grew faster in the second quarter compared to the 6.9 percent expansion registered in the first quarter of the year amid robust consumer spending and higher investments.  “It looks like that it can be higher on the basis of the indicators that we’re seeing. All indications would point to a more robust economic growth in the second quarter of 2016,” he said. The country’s GDP grew faster at 6.9 percent in the first quarter of the year from the revised 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year amid accelerated public consumer spending, as well as increased fixed capital outlook on domestic spending. Guinigundo also cited the impact of election-related spending. “It should be higher than 6.9 percent because of the latest readings that we saw,” he added. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Zeno Ronald Abenoja, director of the BSP’s Department of Economic Research, said high-frequency indicators of demand continued to suggest an optimistic outlook on domestic spending. Abenoja said vehicle sales remained brisk while the composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stayed above the 50-point expansion threshold. According to Abenoja the PMI stood at 55.3 in April while the volume of production index (VoPI) grew faster at Read More …