Economy

MANILA, Philippines – One in two Filipinos believe the state of the national economy has worsened in the past 12 months, according to Pulse Asia Research’s Survey on Quality of Life and State of the National Economy.

Don’t worry, Philippine economic managers are saying if the dollar turns stronger in tandem with the US economic recovery. There is an ample supply of the greenback to absorb external shocks while the peso’s weakness – eventually – bodes well for the economy.

MANILA – The economy is expected to be robust at above 6-percent growth until President Aquino steps down in 2016, according to the latest report released by the World Bank.

MANILA – The Philippines has jumped eight notches up a global ranking based ont the amount of freedom an economy enjoys. In its 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, the Washington-based Heritage Foundation said the Philippines ranked 89th out of 178 countries, up from the previous year’s 97th.

Impact of ‘Yolanda’ less severe than expected The economic slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2013 resulting from Supertyphoon “Yolanda” could be less severe than initially anticipated, with growth during the period now seen to hit at least 6 percent.

MANILA, Philippines – As developed countries struggle to limp out of recession, the Philippines has emerged as a bright spot among emerging markets in the world this year, evolving from its decades-old tag as the “sick man of Asia” to a rising tiger due largely to a combination of robust domestic spending, sound fiscal management,…

CONFLICTING ROLES: How can Malacañang credibly oppose an electricity rate increase when the government itself is into power generation and distribution, and regularly slaps a 12-percent Value-Added Tax on sales? In the debate over the cost of electricity, Malacañang cannot pretend to be an objective referee with only public welfare guiding it.

Nakikita ni dating Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno na hihina ang ekonomiya ng bansa ngayong 2014. Sa panayam ng DZMM, sinabi niya na kung ikukumpara noong nakaraang taon, mas mahihirapan ngayon ang pamahalaan na maabot ang 6.5% hanggang 7.5% na growth rate.

Reconstruction activities covering the destruction caused by Typhoon Yolanda in Central Philippines and strong consumer spending on the back of remittances and the boom in business process outsourcing (BPO) sector will fuel the Philippine economy to keep growing in 2014.

Tomorrow is 2014, and living up to tradition would mean making a wish list. Before I rattle off the 14 most important items, I would like to call the attention of the Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Manuel Honrado on another security breach happening under his term.

MANILA, Philippines – The past year was generally a good one for the Philippine economy. Growth continued to be among the fastest in the region. And the country won investment grade status for the first time – a vote of confidence in a nation once dubbed as the sick man of Asia.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy is expected to sustain its strong growth next year and remain as one of the world’s fastest growing economies, Moody’s Analytics said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – Standard & Poor’s Financial Services (S&P) said the Philippines will continue to reflect strong growth in 2014 compared to the rest of the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The Philippines still has the lowest per capita GDP in the Asean-5 despite outpacing the economic growth of its peers last year and in the first half of 2013, the National Statistical Coordination Board confirmed in a report.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines was among 10 economies which made the biggest improvement in business regulation in the past year, according to the World Bank (WB) and International Finance Corp. (IFC).

THE Philippines has advanced in an annual ease of doing business list by the World Bank. According to the just-released joint World Bank and International Finance Corp. Doing Business 2014 report, the Philippines jumped 30 places to 108 out of 189 economies from last year’s 138.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will continue to see robust growth in 2013 and 2014 based on strong domestic consumption and an increase in investments, but this expansion has yet to generate new jobs or reduce poverty levels, according to an updated Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines, already in the limelight as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, gained another vote of confidence from two global financial institutions with a fresh round of economic upgrades.

MANILA – Asian Development Bank (ADB) today raised its economic forecast for the Philippines for this year and 2014, but said job creation remains a challenge despite robust growth.

WASHINGTON – The Philippines moved to 56th place among 152 countries in the annual rankings on economic freedom around the world.

DURING its meeting on September 12, the Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), decided to keep its policy rates steady, citing the manageable inflation environment, which has been at 2.8 percent for the first eight months of 2013, well below the BSP’s target of 3 percent to 5 percent.

GENEVA – Developing and former communist countries such as Brazil and Russia are heading for much faster growth this year than the developed world, the United Nations said on Thursday, meaning they will remain the main drivers of the world economy.

THE BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED 7.5% 2Q13 growth certainly brought cheer to local stocks battered by two weeks of bad news. The main stock index rose a cumulative 6.0% in the past two days following the announcement last August 29 that the local economy bested other Southeast Asian countries where growth ranged from 2.8% (Thailand) to 5.8% (Indonesia)…

MANILA – Tighter US monetary policy is likely to temper Philippines growth despite strong domestic consumption and government spending, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said.

Since May 22, when talks about “Fed tapering” arose, interest rates across the globe started to shoot up. Capital which freely flowed to emerging markets because of the Great Global Monetary Easing (see The Great Global Monetary Easing, Oct. 22, 2012) began to reverse course, causing a vicious correction in emerging market stocks, bonds and…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy is expected to grow over seven percent this year, eclipsing the high end of the government’s official 6-7 percent target.

MANILA – Businessmen today lauded the economy’s performance in the second quarter, cementing their belief that the Philippines can sail through this year with flying colors.

National Accounts, Q2 2013 The domestic economy accelerated in the second quarter of 2013 to 7.5 percent from 6.3 percent recorded the previous year boosting the 2013 first semester growth to 7.6 percent from 6.4 percent in the first half of 2012. The second quarter growth is the fourth consecutive GDP growth of more than…

MANILA, Philippines (4th UPDATE) – The Philippines remained the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia with a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.5% in the 2nd quarter, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) announced Thursday, August 29.

MANILA, Philippines – What will it take for the Philippines to become a high-income economy? According to a new Asian Development Bank report, the Philippines and other developing Asian economies should boost their manufacturing sectors in order to prosper.