PH entry makes it to Project Inspire finals

 Economy
Aug 182013
 
PH entry makes it to Project Inspire finals

MANILA, Philippines – Ilaw ng Tahanan, a project designed to train women inmates to produce low-cost solar lamps, brings young Filipino lawyers Margarita N. Gutierrez and Doranne Lim to Singapore for the finals of Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World, hopefully to win the US$25,000 Women’s Empowerment Grant. Gutierrez and Lim will compete with nine other Project Inspire finalists from Canada, India, Netherlands, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda and United States, whose projects will benefit communities in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East or Africa (APMEA). The 10 finalists were selected based on their sustainability, impact and economic or social benefit, out of this year’s 577 submissions from 62 countries around the world. Jointly organized by the Singapore Committee of UN Women and MasterCard and supported by INSEAD, Project Inspire is a digital and social media driven initiative that encourages young people across the world to empower disadvantaged women and girls. It was launched in 2011, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and the 25th anniversary of MasterCard in APMEA. Open to 18-35 year olds all over the world, Project Inspire provides a five-minute platform for pitching transformative, sustainable ideas and a grant for the winner to implement the initiatives, which can range from education and skills training, to financial inclusion or social entrepreneurship. It’s the third time Filipinos made a mark on the competition. For Project Inspire 2011, a micro-entrepreneurship program, Hapinoy, won the Grand Prize. Hapinoy equipped underprivileged women with the skills, tools, Read More …

Steady growth in remittances eyed this year

 Economy
Jul 272013
 
Steady growth in remittances eyed this year

MANILA, Philippines – First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) has retained its growth forecast for full year cash remittances at four to five percent on the back of strong global demand for Filipino workers in other countries. According to the latest issue of The Market Call, a joint monthly publication of FMIC and the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), the level of remittances continued to be buoyant with dollar and peso values posting above year-to-date level growth rates. The announcement by the US Federal Reserve late May of a possible fourth round of quantitative easing – the practice of buying $85 billion in US Treasury and mortgage bonds a month – later this year spooked portfolio investors and forced many to reduce exposure in emerging markets and risky assets. This translated into the highest trading volatility for the peso for the year as it ranged from 41.91 to 43.89 or a 3.9 percent depreciation of the peso-dollar exchange rate to an average of 42.91 in June. This was a reversal of a 0.4 percent rise of the peso in May that brought it to its highest level since January 2012. FMIC-UAP expressed confidence that remittances would remain robust due to sustained strong demand for skilled and professional Filipino workers. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Market Call cited data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) that showed the  number of Filipinos who got their overseas job orders approved from January to May this year  remained Read More …

Bonds to benefit from calm – Barclays

 Economy
Jul 032013
 
Bonds to benefit from calm – Barclays

MANILA, Philippines – The bond market is likely to benefit from the calm in the financial markets with investors expected to prefer “safer” investment  instruments once they return to Asia, an investment bank said. For the first time in more than two weeks, British bank Barclays said investors have shifted to buying mode in Asian markets, as fears of US’s trimming down stimulus measures later this year recede. “Going forward, we expect more of the same: bonds performing in line with the risk indicators as we think investors will likely to get back into safer markets first,” the bank said in a research note. On Tuesday, Barclays noted bonds from India, Malaysia and Thailand benefitted from huge inflows, followed by those in South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia. There was no mention of the Philippines in the report. The performance of regional bonds, the bank said, could be partly attributed to the participation of local investors in the market, which cushions outflows coming from the flight of foreign placements. Even then, Barclays said there has been some “resilience” in the bond market even during the financial turbulence driven by fears cheap money from the US – most of which flowed to emerging markets – would soon be gone. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “Even though external risks loom large, the resilience of institutional portfolio flows is encouraging and challenges the assumption that large foreign holdings of local government debt are the key to underperformance in a sell-off,” Read More …

Poverty, income inequality remain high in Phl

 Economy
Jun 292013
 
Poverty, income inequality remain high in Phl

MANILA, Philippines – Despite robust economic growth so far this year and a series of international credit rating upgrades, inclusive growth and poverty alleviation still elude the Philippines. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew an impressive 7.8 percent in the first three months of 2013, after an equally strong growth rate of 6.8 percent in whole of 2012. But Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said compared to other Asian countries, the Philippines still has the lowest total investment share to GDP from 2010-2012 relative to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. “Poverty incidence remains high, and so does income inequality. Moreover, more than 60 percent of the entire country’s economic growth is concentrated in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon,” Balisacan said at a recent forum by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD). Substantial poverty reduction achieved in developing countries in the past two decades was due to rapid economic growth and structural transformation in these countries, particularly in Asia. Globally, this growth contributed nearly two-thirds of the observed poverty reduction in the developing world. “A one-percent increase in GDP per capita reduces poverty by 1.7 percent,” Balisacan said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Likewise, the country’s economic growth barely exceeded the population growth rate, which has continued to expand relatively rapidly at about two percent a year. Thus shifting the economy to a higher growth path – and keeping it there for the long term – Read More …

Jollibee banks on Pinoys’ higher spending power

 Economy
Jun 282013
 
Jollibee banks on Pinoys’ higher spending power

MANILA, Philippines – Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is banking on Filipinos’ higher spending power, new branches and product launches to grow its profits further this year. The Philippines’ largest quickservice restaurant chain also expects better profitability in its operations in China, top company executives said yesterday. “There are two [growth] drivers: one is better products and the other one is election spending,” JFC chief finance officer Ysmael V. Baysa told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting. Baysa said the effects of the election spending will taper off in the second half but JFC plans to introduce new products and improve its lineup. The current weakness of the peso is also seen to benefit the Philippine operations of JFC. “From different angles, it can be good [because] the OFW family’s income will be a little bit higher,” said JFC chairman and CEO Tony Tan Caktiong. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 For the entire year, JFC expects earnings per share to grow 12 percent. This will require at least a five-percent uptick in samestore sales, Baysa said. In the first three months, JFC’s net income grew 29 percent to P881 million from P682 million a year ago due to higher samestore sales and new branches. Systemwide sales, a measure of all sales to customers both in company-owned and franchised stores, picked up 10.6 percent to P23.83 billion in the first quarter. For its expansion plans, the fastfood giant is sticking to its plan of spending Read More …

UN: World population to hit 8.1B in 2025

 News
Jun 142013
 
UN: World population to hit 8.1B in 2025

Associated Press 1:07 am | Saturday, June 15th, 2013 POPULATION GROWTH Babies at the neonatal intensive care unit of East Avenue Medical Center. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ UNITED NATIONS—The United Nations has forecast that the world’s population will increase from 7.2 billion today to 8.1 billion in 2025 and 9.6 billion in 2050, with most growth in developing countries and more than half in Africa. The report said much of the overall increase between now and 2050 is expected to take place in Africa and countries with large populations such as India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United States. (As of the May 2010 census, the Philippines’ population stood at 92,337,852. The Commission on Population projected the country’s population as of June 14, 2013 at 97,898,948, based on the 1.98 population percent change.) The UN report, “World Population Prospects,” released on Thursday, said most of the population growth will occur in developing regions which are projected to increase from 5.9 billion in 2013 to 8.2 billion in 2050. During that same period, it said, the population of developed countries is expected to remain largely unchanged at around 1.3 billion people. India to surpass China India’s population is expected to surpass China’s around 2028 when both countries will have populations of around 1.45 billion, according to the report. While India’s population is forecast to grow to around 1.6 billion and then slowly decline to 1.5 billion in 2100, China’s is expected to start decreasing after 2030, possibly falling to 1.1 billion in Read More …

Travel groups buck moratorium on landing permits

 Economy
Jun 062013
 
Travel groups buck moratorium on landing permits

MANILA, Philippines – The moratorium on the issuance of landing permits at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is sending the wrong signal to international investors, the country’s largest travel/tourism groups said. In a joint statement, Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) and the Federation of Tourism Industry of the Philippines (FTIP) said they are asking the government to study carefully the impact of the moratorium to the tourism industry and the economy as a whole. PTAA president John Paul Cabalza said the industry already anticipated the influx of request for permits to have regular flights into the country’s major gateways after the scrapping of the common carriers tax (CCT) earlier this year. “Having a strong Philippine tourism campaign requires the support of other government agencies and needs a singular voice on that same plan. We cannot give the international community mixed signals when we push hard to open a door and yet have that door being shut again,” he said. For her part, interim FTIP president Aileen Clemente said more than just addressing the flight congestion challenges of NAIA, “we want the government in general, to map out and address connectivity, tourism growth, and capacity build-up across the country.” Earlier reports came out that the Civil Aviation Board (CAB) has denied the request of both India’s Jet Airways and Oman Airways to mount regular flights to Manila. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Jet Airways is the second largest carrier in India with 21 international destinations across Read More …

Senate fails to ratify 3 extradition treaties

 News
Jun 062013
 
Senate fails to ratify 3 extradition treaties

The Senate adjourned on Thursday night without ratifying extradition treaties between the Philippines and three countries. Even with foreign diplomats in the Senate gallery, the chamber failed to muster the 16 votes it needed to ratify extradition treaties with Spain, India and the United Kingdom. When the roll call was called at past 4 p.m., only 14 senators were present on the Senate floor. The Senate instead approved local bills, such as the measure upgrading the Cotabato City District Engineering Office, the bill creating a new barangay in Occidental Mindoro, and proposed legislations allowing the construction of fish ports. — Andreo Calonzo/BM, GMA News

UNMOGIP honors Filipino peacekeeper

 Entertainment
Apr 232013
 

The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) honored and awarded on April 12 Filipino soldier Major Ricado M. Lucero Jr., and 31 other UN military observers with UN Mission Service Medals at the UNMOGIP headquarters in Islamabad. Speaking during the Medal Parade Ceremony, Major General Young Bum Choi, UNMOGIP’s Chief Military […]

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