Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The Community Mortgage Program (CMP), a government financing scheme that enables organized informal settler families to purchase land, is no longer meeting the needs of its target beneficiaries mainly because of the high equity requirements for acquisition, the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) said in a new policy note. As such, the state-run policy research institute recommends implementing an income-based subsidy scheme to prevent further exclusion of the poor. The CMP extends loans to poor informal settlers who have no access to housing loans from private banks. Established in 1988, it is administered by the Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC). It enables the beneficiaries to secure tenure on the land they currently occupy or wish to occupy. The program has a total loan fund of P12.78 billion for its regular programs and an additional P20 billion for its high-density housing program. To enjoy the benefits of the program, informal settler families (ISFs) must belong to community associations (CA). The program provides housing loans payable on a fixed interest rate of six percent annually for 25 years. This interest rate is not risk-based and remains constant for the 25-year tenure of the loan. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 CAs with good payment performance can apply for additional loans for site development and home improvement. Based on its assessment of the program, PIDS said the equity requirement discourages target beneficiaries from participating in the program. The maximum loan amount for land acquisition is P100,000 Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Export earnings from abaca products went up almost 40 percent in the first five months of the year due to an increase in all markets, the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) reported. Export earnings for January to May this year reached $51.4 million, up 39.4 percent from $36.8 million in the same period in 2015, the agency said. Exports of abaca pulp increased 62 percent to $34.2 million from $21.1 million. Shipments to the US surged eight-fold to 964.6 metric tons (MT) from 102.5 MT in the same period in 2015. Volume of shipments to Asia also spiked 46 percent to 1,601.7 MT from 1,096.3 MT, while shipment volume to Europe was 33 percent higher to 6,011.7 MT from 4,530.8 MT in the year-ago period. The total volume of abaca pulp exports jumped 50 percent in the January to May period to 8,578 MT from 5,730 MT in the same period in 2015. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Meanwhile, the value of outbound shipments of fabrics and cordage registered declines of 30 percent and 37 percent, respectively, for the period. Fabric exports contracted to $341,113 from $483,746, while cordage exports shrunk to $3.2 million from $5.1 million in 2015. Exports of fiber crafts, on the other hand, was placed at $4 million, up 76 percent from $2.3 million in the first five months of 2015. Meanwhile, the value of raw fiber exports increased 22 percent to $9.6 million from $8 million in Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – There would be no need for feed-in tariff (FIT) incentives for solar when prices of solar panels have gone down and the country would need to import more gas by 2022, making it competitive with other sources of power, the Philippine Solar Power Alliance (PSPA) said. PSPA president Maria Theresa Capellan said solar players would need two more rounds under FIT until the technology becomes competitive by 2022 when the cost of solar panels would have gone down. FIT is a set of incentives given to power developers for a period of 20 years to invest in the more expensive renewables sector. “We project that solar plants would cost $1 million per megawatt (MW) by 2022 and it will be lower by 2030,” Capellan said. The cost of solar plants have already decreased from $1.6 million per megawatt in 2014 to $1.23 million in 2016, the PSPA official said. By 2022, Capellan said the contract of the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project is expected to expire, requiring the Philippines to import much expensive gas from other countries. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “If we import gas, the rate from gas-fired power plants, which are peaking plants, will increase. So this will translate to higher electricity rates, and solar will be competitive because we can sell at P5 per kilowatt-hour (kwh),” Capellan said. The current FIT rate for solar is equivalent to P8.69 per kwh. In the first round, FIT for solar was P9.68 Read More …

The currency closed at 48.50 to $1, down 17 centavos from Thursday’s 48.33 to $1. This is the lowest since the local currency closed at 48.62 last Sept. 4, 2009. STAR/File photo MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine peso further weakened yesterday, closing at 48.50 to $1 amid market volatility caused by uncertainties in the global financial market. The currency closed at 48.50 to $1, down 17 centavos from Thursday’s 48.33 to $1. This is the lowest since the local currency closed at 48.62 last Sept. 4, 2009. It opened slightly lower at 48.40 to $1 as compared to 48.19 the previous day. Total volume reached $871.8 million, higher than Thursday’s $583.5 million. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. told reporters the weakening peso was driven mainly by external factors, including uncertainties arising from the possible interest hike to be implemented by the US Federal Reserve. “At this point in time, there seems to be some risk aversion given again the uncertainty about when the US Fed is going to finally increase interest rates. Judging from the statements of various Fed governors and presidents, there seems to be some splits. Some want to increase and some would want to wait. So that causes some volatilities in financial markets,” Tetangco said. He added that financial concerns in Europe were also raised due to the uncertainties in the stability of the Deutsche Bank. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Domestic factors, such as the increase in corporate Read More …