Companies based in the Philippines took out more than $5 billion in 2009 to repay their debt or lend to other companies abroad.
Rosabel Guerrero, director of Bangko Sentral’s economic statistics department, said Philippine banks and companies were profitable enough last year to prepay some of their loans and lend to other companies overseas.
“It was a common practice among banks,” she said, referring to lending to one another in times of difficulties.
Data from Bangko Sentral showed that the other investment account posted a net outflow of $5.1 billion in 2009, a turnaround from the $771-million net inflow in 2008.
Bangko Sentral Deputy Gov. Diwa Guinigundo said the outflow was a result of the transactions between daughter companies here and parent companies abroad.
The Philippines posted a net outflow in the other investment account because the local market did not have the same tightness that other countries experienced last year, he said.
“There were loans extended by resident companies to non-resident firms,” Guinigundo said.
Local banks posted net loan repayments amounting to $1 billion last year while private companies recorded $740 million.
This was evident in the latest external debt report released by Bangko Sentral, showing that private sector’s external debt went down by over $2 billion to $11.4 billion last year from $13.5 billion in 2008, as repayments by both bank and non-bank borrowers exceeded loan availments.
Foreign entities also had net withdrawal of currency and deposit placements from local banks in the amount of $134 million and from private local companies in the amount of $404 million.
Local banks extended loans totaling $2.2 billion to companies and banks based in other countries during the period.
If not for the outflow in the other investment account, the country’s current account surplus would have exceeded $10 billion last year and further pushed the value of the peso and the gross international reserves. –Roderick T. dela Cruz, Manila Standard Today
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
