United States – Page 3

Net hot money inflow up 8% to $4.225 B in 2013

Economy

Jan 162014

Net hot money inflow up 8% to $4.225 B in 2013

MANILA, Philippines – The net inflow of foreign portfolio investments, also known as hot money, surged eight percent in 2013, exceeding the central bank’s projection on the back of the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data showed net hot money inflow went up to $4.225 billion last year from $3.911 billion in 2012. It was also way above the revised $3.2 billion assumption of the central bank for 2013. Foreign portfolio investments are also called hot money given the ease with which the funds enter and exit economies. The BSP attributed the increase in hot money inflow to the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals; sustained high growth in the first three quarters; (and) the investment grade ratings given to the Philippines. The central bank also said crisis in developing countries such as the United States and those in the euro zone also caused funds to be diverted to emerging economies such as the Philippines. Gross inflows jumped 54 percent to $28.404 billion in 2013 from $18.483 billion in 2012, while gross outflows climbed 66 percent to $24.180 billion from $14.571 billion. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Last year’s gross inflows were the highest recorded since 1999, surpassing the previous record high of $18.5 billion in 2012. “There was a steady stream of investment inflows of more than $2 billion a month except in the ghost month of August, believed to be unlucky for business, and in December due to the announcement of the forthcoming Read More …

Local version of 'Lemon Law' sought

Economy

Jan 112014

MANILA, Philippines – A lawmaker has filed a bill similar to the “lemon law” of the United States to protect the buyers of motor vehicles, particularly those that fail to meet the standards of quality and performance. Rep. Mark Villar (Lone District, Las Piñas City) said House Bill 3199 would strengthen consumer protection in the purchase of brand new vehicles and provides legal remedies to buyers who face the ill fate of lemon automobiles ending up in their hands. Villar said the historical antecedents of the lemon law originated in the United States and was crafted primarily to return to the consumer the full value of money. “It provides that if a manufacturer or its authorized dealer cannot successfully repair a defective product within a reasonable number of repair attempts. The manufacturer must either promptly replace or repurchase the product,” Villar explained. Villar said given the fast-paced nature of the current time, owning a motor vehicle now is not considered a luxury but more of a necessity to cope with everyday duties and responsibilities. “Coping with this necessity does not come cheap. Owning a motor vehicle is a big investment and could take a substantial chunk of one’s savings. For some unfortunate buyers, an investment in this endeavor has become for naught after they acquired a ‘lemon’ or those that fail to meet the standards of quality and performance,” Villar said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The lawmaker added that because of this, buyers continue with Read More …

PH seeks break for exports from ‘Yolanda’-hit areas

News

Jan 102014

PH seeks break for exports from ‘Yolanda’-hit areas

Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is seeking duty-free access into the United States of export products from “Yolanda”-hit areas to help drive the local economy as devastated provinces began recovery and rehabilitation efforts. Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Cuisia Jr. made the remarks at a recent conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, citing the arrangement that the United States had forged with Haiti to bolster the latter’s economy following the devastating 2010 earthquake. “Similar to what the United States did following the Haiti earthquake, the Philippines is looking at possible trade preference for products from Haiyan-affected areas,” Cuisia told a forum on the role of the US military, government and private sector in helping typhoon recovery in the Philippines. In his audience were the US state department, military and aid officials, representatives from nongovernment organizations and corporate donors. Cuisia said the Philippines is “looking at arrangements” to allow duty-free entry of selected goods from Yolanda-hit areas, particularly Central Visayas, “for a limited period of time.” The ambassador also renewed his call for sustained support from the United States and the international community, noting how the Philippine government’s comprehensive recovery and rehabilitation plan, the Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda plan, still needs some $8.2 billion (about P360.8 billion). Ally, partner “There is much work to be done, and in the spirit of the alliance and partnership we have shared, we continue to count on your Read More …

Net foreign direct investments surge 66%

Economy

Jan 102014

Net foreign direct investments surge 66%

MANILA, Philippines – Net foreign direct investment inflows rose 66 percent to $254 million in October last year from $153 million in the same period in 2012 amid the country’s robust growth and favorable macroeconomic fundamentals, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported yesterday. “The notable rise in foreign investments into the country reflects favorable investor sentiment on the back of the country’s macroeconomic stability amid challenging global conditions,” the central bank said. The economy expanded 7.4 percent in the first nine months of last year, faster than the government’s six- to seven-percent target. Inflation stood at an average of three percent in 2013, at the low end of the BSP’s three- to five-percent target range. Central bank data showed net equity capital grew 19 percent to $68 million in October from $57 million in the previous year, while reinvested earnings plunged 44 percent to $50 million from $90 million. Placements in debt instruments or borrowings made by local subsidiaries from the parent companies, meanwhile, surged to $135 million from $6 million. Gross equity placements in October last year came from the US, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. These funds went into manufacturing, transportation and storage, financial and insurance, real estate, and mining and quarrying. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 In the first 10 months of 2013, net FDI inflows went up 35 percent to $3.361 billion from $2.485 billion in the same period in 2012. Net equity capital placements slid 48 percent to $658 million Read More …

TPS petition to Obama far short of 100k signatures goal

News

Jan 062014

TPS petition to Obama far short of 100k signatures goal

LAS VEGAS—An online petition asking the US Department of Homeland Security to grant the Philippines Temporary Protective Status (TPS) is in danger of failing to garner enough signatures by Feb. 1, 2014, the deadline for the petition to be able to have the needed number of signatures. With just 25 days left, the petition posted on the “We the People” website has gathered only 20 signatures, well short of the 100,000 necessary for the White House to respond. The online petition was launched from San Francisco, and the initial signatures came from mostly California-based Filipino-Americans. The petition states: “We respectfully request Pres. Obama to direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to designate the Philippines as a country for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), pursuant to 8 U.S.C §1254a, as a way to meaningfully augment current humanitarian efforts of the United States to assist citizens of the Philippines affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan. “Under this section, a country may be designated for TPS if it has been impacted by a natural disaster that has “result[ed] in a substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions” such that the country is “unable, temporarily, to handle adequately the return” of its nationals currently in the United States. 8 U.S.C §1254a(b)(1)(B)(i) &(ii).” The “We the People” petition is in addition to direct appeals to the Obama administration for immediate immigration relief for Filipinos in the United States in the wake of the devastation caused by Supertyphoon Haiyan/Yolanda. A TPS designation, among others, will provide a Read More …

‘US must pay more for reef damage’

News

Jan 042014

In this Jan. 22, 2013 photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard, coast guard divers approach the USS Guardian, a US Navy minesweeper, to assess the situation after it ran aground last week off Tubbataha Reef. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—It’s all right if the United States has not yet paid the P58.3-million fine slapped on it by the Philippines for messing up the Tubbataha Reefs this time last year, because it has to pay more, a Filipino lawyer said on Saturday. Lawyer Edre Olalia said the United States had to pay not only for direct damages but also for other violations of Philippine environmental laws and regulations due to the grounding of its minehunter USS Guardian on an atoll in the Tubbataha Reefs. “We’re opposed to the paltry fine assessment made by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Those responsible for the destruction of the reef must be held liable. The United States should pay more,” Olalia told the Inquirer in a phone interview. Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, is one of the lawyers of environmentalist and activist groups that filed in April last year a petition for a writ of kalikasan (nature) in the Supreme Court while efforts to extricate the USS Guardian from the reef were under way. The petitioners demanded a fine more than 10 times the Philippine government’s assessment. Similar incident in Hawaii They compared the Tubbataha incident to the grounding of the USS Port Royal on a coral Read More …

In the Know: Naphthalene

Economy

Jan 032014

Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:04 am | Saturday, January 4th, 2014 Naphthalene, a main ingredient in producing mothballs, is a chemical compound widely used as an insecticide and pest repellent. Made from crude oil or coal tar, this crystalline can be colorless but also range in color from solid white to brown. It can be found in car exhaust, cigarette smoke, or smoke from forest fires. Naphthalene, which was first registered as a pesticide in the United States in 1948, is primarily used to control clothes moth and silverfish through vapors that, in airtight containers, can kill insects. It is also used to repel animals such as squirrels and bats. Some hanging toilet bowl deodorizers may also contain naphthalene. Naphthalene is considered moderately toxic to some species of fish, water fleas and Pacific oysters, and slightly toxic to green algae. Apart from mothballs, this toxic and active ingredient is also used in the production of plastics, dyes, resins, lubricants and fuels. Exposure to naphthalene vapors may result in headache, nausea, dizziness or vomiting. Children who accidentally consume mothballs may also develop diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain and painful urination with discolored urine. Breathing in napthalene vapors or consuming the product may result in hemolytic anemia, which occurs when red blood cells break apart and fail to carry oxygen through the body. When naphthalene enters the body, it breaks down to alpha-naphthol, which is linked to the development of hemolytic anemia. Kidney and liver damage may occur as alpha-naphthol and other metabolites are Read More …

YEARENDER: Typhoons blow away early gains in DA’s food sufficiency program

Economy

Dec 312013

YEARENDER: Typhoons blow away early gains in DA’s food sufficiency program

MANILA, Philippines – The series of strong typhoons that entered the country in the second semester of the year dented the production of several industrial and staple crops, prompting the Agriculture department to review its flagship program on food staple production and institute various interventions for the subsector. Significant expansion opportunities in the fisheries and animal industry sectors, however, have opened this year as the Philippines remained free from, avian influenza, foot-and-mouth disease and early mortality syndrome (EMS) that devastated the poultry, livetstock and shrimp industries of neighboring Asian countries. After the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda in November, the Agriculture department conceded that self-sufficiency in rice would not be attained this year. Under the FSSP, self-sufficiency entails covering the annual domestic per capita consumption of 115 kilograms per year while still providing for the 90-day buffer stock requirement. After the super typhoon pummeled Visayas, the country is seen to attain a sufficiency level of 97 to 98 percent this year. To beef up the country’s buffer stock, the National Food Authority Council approved the importation of 500,000 metric tons (MT) of rice from Vietnam which would be shipped in tranches until the end of the first quarter of 2014. Even before Yolanda demolished rice cultivation areas in Visayas, Typhoon Santi battered in October 214,640 hectares of rice lands in central Luzon, putting pressure on the country’s rice production target of more than 20 million metric tons this year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Agriculture Secretary Proceso Read More …

In the know: Sinaloa drug cartel

News

Dec 262013

Philippine Daily Inquirer 3:25 am | Friday, December 27th, 2013 Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. AP FILE PHOTO The drug trafficking cartel known as Sinaloa derives its name from Mexico’s remote state. It is said to be the ancestral land of the country’s most notorious traffickers, bound in an “alliance of blood.” Prominent members are cousins by marriage or brothers-in-law. The cartel is headed by Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquin (“El Chapo” or “Shorty”) Guzman. Often described as Mexico’s most powerful drug kingpin, Guzman escaped from prison in 2001 and then went on a wave of killings in an attempt to dominate the country’s highly lucrative drug trade into the United States. He has been on the run with a $5-million reward on his head since. Guzman was on the Forbes list of billionaires from 2009 to 2012. He was cut from the 2013 list. Forbes said it was no longer confident Guzman, rumored to have been killed in a shootout on the Guatemala border in February, had enough money to count in its rankings this year. About 90 percent of all cocaine consumed in the United States come from Mexico, which is also a major source of heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana. By most estimates, Sinaloa has achieved a market share of 40 to 60 percent, which may be translated to annual revenues of some $3 billion. In the 1980s, Guzman joined the Guadalajara cartel, which was headed by a former policeman known as El Padrino. After El Padrino’s capture in Read More …

PHL cuts 2014 import, export targets

Entertainment

Dec 092013

President Benigno S. Aquino III presides over the Task Force Yolanda Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Plan Meeting at the Aguinaldo State Dining Room of the Malacañan Palace on Friday (November 29). (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – The Philippines on Friday lowered its import-export targets for 2014, citing lingering uncertainties in global demand – particularly from advanced economies led by the United States, a member of the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee said. The DBCC, which manages the Philippine macroeconomic program, cut the exports target to 6 percent from 11 percent as originally programmed and brought import goal to 5 percent from 13 percent. The revisions were done after giving the latest demand indicators were given a closer look and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas modified the computations for the balance of payments, said Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balicasan, who sits on the budget committee. However, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad, who also chairs the DBCC, said government is keeping its 2 percent deficit to GDP (gross domestic product) target for 2014, citing the Philippines’ strong fiscal position and better tax collections. The Aquino administration has enough leeway to absorb additional expenditures to cover post-Yolanda reconstruction while keeping deficit spending within original target, he added. (MNS)

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