European economic growth still on US agenda

 Economy
Jun 142013
 
European economic growth still on US agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after President Barack Obama made an emphatic pitch to Europe’s economic powers to focus more on economic growth than austerity, much of the eurozone remains mired in or near recession. Obama’s appeals have had mixed results in softening the demands on some of the most debt-ridden European nations to cut their spending. Still, the region’s crisis is no longer perceived as an urgent threat to the global economy, and while the US still wants Europe to temper the debt trimming and increase global demand, Obama is not expected to be as insistent with other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations when they meet in Northern Ireland next week. Last year, the G-8 leaders assembled at the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat in the aftermath of European elections that represented a revolt against the austerity measures pushed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. When Obama greeted Merkel and asked how she had been, the German leader merely shrugged. “Well, you have a few things on your mind,” Obama replied then. These days, the furor has died down, high-debt nations have been given more time to work on their fiscal cuts, and even the language has changed from “austerity” to “growth-oriented structural reforms.” “Relative to last year, things are somewhat better in that the European situation is more contained,” said Matthew Goodman, a former Obama international economics adviser now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The risks that people were worried about have been Read More …

iRemit to venture into financial derivatives

 Economy
Jun 132013
 
iRemit to venture into financial derivatives

MANILA, Philippines – I-Remit Inc., a Filipino-owned global remittance firm, will venture into financial derivative activities as a safeguard against the impact of fluctuating foreign exchange rates, a company disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) said. iRemit said its board has approved the amendment of the corporation’s primary purpose to give way to this new function. “With the amendment, and subject to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ regulatory approval, the corporation will no longer be limited to engaging in spot foreign currency transactions,” it said. It added that it “will be able to engage in financial derivative activities such as foreign currency swaps, forwards, options or other similar instruments.” It would be noted that due to the peso’s appreciation against the dollar in the first three months of the year, iRemit’s income dropped 95 percent to P1.6 million from P33 million in the same period in 2012. As iRemit’s operation is dependent on transaction fees of foreign exchange particularly the peso, any forex gyration would greatly impact on its profit. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Due to the sharp peso appreciation, the company said its trading gains also suffered. For the first quarter, the company’s revenues dropped 11.8 percent to P175.8 million from P199.4 million in the same period last year. iRemit said the decline in sales was“mainly due to significant net realized foreign exchange loss as the Philippine peso continued to appreciate against the US dollar.” Despite the income drop, total transactions jumped six Read More …

All PH missions on alert for coronavirus

 News
Jun 052013
 
All PH missions on alert for coronavirus

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 8:33 pm | Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 DFA spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — All Philippine missions overseas are now on alert for the coronavirus, a deadly respiratory disease known to have originated in the Middle East but has spread to parts of Europe. No Filipino has so far been reported to have contracted the disease, but all Philippine embassies and consulates around the world are now closely watching developments relating to the virus, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. “As you know, this has already spread to other countries, so all of our embassies and consulates around the world are closely monitoring developments in their respective jurisdictins and they regularly seek updates from their host governments,” said DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez in a briefing. He also reiterated the government’s advice to Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, the country currently worst-affected by the virus, with 25 known deaths out of 39 reported cases. There are some 1.5 million Filipinos currently in Saudi Arabia as workers or residents. “The personnel of our embassy and consulate in Saudi Arabia can effectively relay relevant information regarding the virus to our compatriots, and they have already done this,” said Hernandez. “What we really need now is our citizens’ cooperation. Filipinos should heed the advice of our embassy and consulate and relevant authorities of the host country,” he added. He said Filipinos in affected countries–now including France, Germany and Great Britain–should immediately consult Read More …

Lifting of PH air ban in Europe seen

 News
Apr 182013
 
Lifting of PH air ban in Europe seen

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:10 am | Friday, April 19th, 2013 EU Ambassador Guy Ledoux: We are on a very positive curve. FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Negotiations for the lifting of Europe’s blanket air ban against Philippine carriers are “on a very positive curve” as the European Union wants the issue resolved soon in hopes of bolstering trade and tourism with the Philippines, according to the EU ambassador here. The resumption of the European flights of Philippine carriers is of mutual interest as it would facilitate greater business and people-to-people exchanges between the EU and the Philippines, EU Ambassador Guy Ledoux said Thursday. “I think really we are on a very positive curve. I mean the first major achievement was the lifting of the safety concern by Icao (International Civil Aviation Organization) earlier this year,” Ledoux told reporters. “I think what is important is that a very important dialogue has been reestablished,” he said. Two days previously, transport officials from the European Commission met in Brussels with representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific to discuss the remedies that the Philippine side has implemented to bring airline safety measures at par with EU standards. The Philippines passed the Icao’s safety audit in February, ending three years of being listed among the countries deemed of “significant safety concern” by the international aviation regulator. The negative Icao assessment prompted the EU to ban Philippine carriers from flying to Europe in 2010.

Stocks sink as investors worry over Italian vote

 Economy
Feb 262013
 
Stocks sink as investors worry over Italian vote

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua)- Profit takers pulled down the Philippine stock market today. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index lost 1.35 percent or 90.66 points to 6,630.67. The broader all-share index retreated by 0.77 percent or 32.07 points to 4,144.87. Trading volume reached 2.03 billion shares worth P10.49 billion ($257.83 billion) with 111 stocks declining, 55 advancing, and 43 unchanged. All six counters closed in the negative. Analyst Justino Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities Corp. said investors took note of the 216-point drop of the Dow Jones industrial average index to start booking their gains. “It was a day filled with a menu of negative news from Europe,” Calaycay said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Among the negative developments cited by the analyst was the latest election in Italy. Investors are worried over projections in Italy that showed no political coalition is strong enough to form a government. This might lead to political deadlocks that could lead to another Euro-zone crisis. Italy is divided between those pushing for austerity measures as a means to restore the economy back to health and the populists, who oppose such measures. In the US, Calaycay said investors are growing apprehensive over the developments in Europe and ahead of a spate of economic data this week. Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly down. These issues were SM Investments Corp., Ayala Corp., and Ayala Land, Inc.

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