Jul 142013
 
IMF issues warning on capital outflows

MANILA, Philippines – On what seemed to be a reverse of what it warned about months back, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) now wants emerging markets, such as the Philippines, to prepare for capital outflows. “In emerging market economies, the focus should be on boosting potential growth while dealing with the capital outflows, which may follow from the exit of the US from quantitative easing (QE),” IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said last week. “We have to accept the fact that as monetary policy normalizes in the US…some of the investors which had gone to emerging market countries in particular will want to repatriate (back their funds),” he explained. His statements were made on a press briefing held by the IMF last Tuesday to mark the release of its World Economic Update. The transcript of the briefing was posted on the IMF website. In the past, the multilateral agency had warned against capital inflows, which had seen Asian currencies rising in value to the detriment of exports as well as concerns of asset bubble formations. This time around, Blanchard said, the already slowing growth in developing nations will come under threat once the QE, the $85-billion monthly bond buying program in the US, tapers off later this year as indicated. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Based on the IMF’s latest projections, emerging markets are projected to grow 5.4 percent this year and the next, slower than the 5.3 percent and 5.7 percent for 2013 and 2014 Read More …

Jul 052013
 
Forex reserves lowest in 10 mos

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to a 10-month low in June after the central bank’s gold holdings plummeted in value, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday. The BSP said its gross international reserves (GIR) – buffer funds in times of external shocks – fell to $81.640 billion in June. It marked the third straight month of decline since GIR peaked at $85.273 billion in January. The latest tally was also the lowest level for reserves – one of the drivers tagged by credit rating agencies for their upgrades – since August 2012 when figures were recorded at $80.728 billion. Despite the decrease, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement reserves remain sufficient to cover 11.8 months worth of imports of goods and services. They are also equivalent to 8.3 times the country’s short-term foreign debt based on original maturity, and six times based on residual maturity. The BSP expects GIR to hit $87 billion this year. “The slight decline in reserves was due mainly to revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings arising from the decrease in the price of gold in the international market…,” Tetangco said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 According to official figures, gold holdings decreased 11.33 to $7.663 billion in June from a month ago, the lowest level in nearly two years. It was the single biggest drag to reserves last month.  “These outflows were partially offset by inflows from foreign exchange operations of Read More …

Jan 252013
 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday it has raised its economic growth forecast for the Philippines for this year The post IMF raises PHL 2013 economic growth forecast to 6% appeared first on Good News Pilipinas. You might also like: World Bank raises Philippines 2012 growth forecast anew ADB hikes Philippine growth forecast, cuts rest of Asia Credit Suisse and BoA-Merrill Lynch upgrade Phl growth