The National Power Corp. (Napocor) expects to complete the feasibility study on the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in 2011.

The country’s balance of payments (BOP) surplus thinned to a four-year-low of $88 million in 2008, a small fraction of the $8.557-billion surplus in 2007 due to the inexorable outflow of foreign exchange from the country.

GFIs to contribute P100B MANILA, Philippines—The Social Security System (SSS) is chipping in P12.5 billion to the P300-billion economic stimulus fund meant to help tide the Philippines over this year when the global downturn is anticipated to worsen.

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said three preneed companies have shut down amid the global financial crisis.

THE average occupancy rate in Metro Manila hotels fell to 70.34 percent in November 2008 from 78.91 percent a year ago, though that was up from 69.76 percent in September, the Tourism Department said over the weekend.

Filipino nurses and caregivers aspiring to work in Japan may now register online.

The United States Department of Labor has awarded a Filipina with the first annual Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor.

Economic growth of 4.7 percent in the Philippines is possible this year as long as the government spends money to get it through the global turmoil, a senior economics minister said Friday.

The agriculture sector managed to post a growth of 3.92 percent last year, with agricultural production value rising by almost 20 percent to P1.16 trillion.

The outgoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative in Manila said yesterday the Philippines is in “a much better position” to confront the challenges posed by the global economic crisis.

Two senior British diplomats yesterday said that the Philippines needs to change the perception that it has “stagnated” and doing business here is difficult compared to other Southeast Asian countries.

Oil companies yesterday implemented another 50-centavo per liter rollback on the pump prices of their products.

A Filipino professor has received the 2008 Rolex Award for Enterprise for developing a new technology that transforms the waste from rice production into clean, affordable cooking fuel.

LONDON (AFP) – People who drink more than seven cups of coffee a day tend to hallucinate more than less caffeine-driven colleagues, according to a study published Wednesday.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday expressed support “in principle” for the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign but warned officials to provide “additional layers of protection” for Filipino students.

WASHINGTON – The World Bank said on Wednesday it had uncovered a major cartel involving local and international firms bidding on a Philippine road project and it had barred seven companies – three from the Philippines and four from China – from bidding on its projects due to alleged corruption.

There will be no increase in water rates in the greater Metro Manila area this year, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) announced yesterday.

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached $15 billion during the first 11 months of 2008, up 15 percent from the same period in 2007, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

If there was anything that had stuck out like a sore thumb with regards the health sector last year, it was the hollow victory that marked the passage of the long delayed Universally Accessible, Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008.

BEIJING (AFP) — China revised upwards its 2007 growth figures Wednesday, indicating the Asian giant overtook Germany as the world’s third largest economy, analysts said. China’s economy expanded by 13.0 percent in 2007, up from a previous calculation of 11.9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said. “At market exchange rates, China in 2007 was…

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US economic slump worsened since early December, with a slowdown hitting a wide range of industries, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report Wednesday.

THE travel industry is still hiring despite the global economic slowdown, with an official saying yesterday that 3,000 jobs awaited tourism graduates at the Philippines’ hotels and resorts.

TRAPPED in the web of the global financial crisis, at least 168 retrenched overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Taiwan have yet to receive full payment of their salaries for the remaining months of their contract, a migrant group reported.

Although Singaporeans are “tightening their belts” because of the global economic crisis, there are plenty of opportunities for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on the island-state, its ambassador said Thursday.

Maynilad Water Services Inc. is mulling legal remedies in order to push through with its botched rate hike this year.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday cautioned the government that the random drug testing of the youth recently ordered by President Gloria Arroyo may violate the human rights of a child.

HEIGHTENED risk aversion led to net outflows of foreign investments in Philippine listed shares and other financial assets last year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Dear Editor: This is with reference to Ambassador Ernesto Maceda’s column article “Creating accounting,” which was published in the Daily Tribune on Jan.14.

The World Bank has agreed to purchase carbon emission reduction credits worth $3.2 million from the bioethanol project of Roxas Holdings Inc. in Negros Occidental over the next four years.

National Grid Corp. of the Philippines will start operating the country’s transmission highway starting today after signing the final transaction agreements with Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.