Economy

While bright spots are evident in the economy, social indicators for the Philippines remain weak underlined by the hunger incidence that reached record highs late last year, the World Bank (WB) said in a report on East Asia released yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The government should maintain the fiscal and monetary stimulus program implemented since last year until private sector investments are strong enough to support economic growth, the World Bank (WB) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) expects the impact of the long dry spell caused by El Niño to be minimal, taking away just 0.57 percentage points from the growth rate as measured by gross domestic product (GDP).

MANILA, Philippines – The outlook of local businessmen on the economy for this year is the most upbeat in 14 years, based on the Makati Business Club’s Executive Outlook Survey.

MANILA, Philippines – Business outlook for 2010 is the most upbeat in 14 years as the economy recovers from the global crisis, according to a survey conducted by the Makati Business Club (MBC).

Businessmen in Mindanao believe that shifting to nighttime operations to save on electricity may not be feasible.

The global economy remains unpredictable, National Economic Development Authority (Neda) regional director Ma. Lourdes Lim speaking at the economic briefing conducted by government economic managers in Davo City said.

MANILA, Philippines – To avoid job losses in Mindanao because of the power crisis, the government is looking at shifting the working hours of Mindanao businesses at night in order to balance the power demand.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is set to source half of the P100-billion economic stimulus package this year from government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) as well as government financial institutions (GFIs), Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the other day.

MANILA, Philippines – Consumer confidence for the next 12 months finally turned positive after being in negative territory over the past seven quarters as the global economic recovery gains more foothold, a survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The government remains optimistic that the domestic economy in 2010 will improve in line with a global rebound as early signs indicate, a top economic manager said.

MANILA, Philippines – Output of the country’s manufacturing sector went up by a double-digit growth in January compared to the year-ago level, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported yesterday.

During the period of Mrs. Gloria Arroyo’s presidency, the state of Human Development in the Philippines has remained relatively stagnant as reflected by the country’s Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is a figure calculated by research teams of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to help determine a particular nation’s quality of life for…

THE Philippine economy could grow by 4.2 percent this year—beyond the official government forecast of 2.6 percent to 3.6 percent—with election spending directly triggering a 0.5-percent growth, economist Dr. Victor Abola said.

PHILIPPINE economic growth likely picked up in the first quarter of the year despite the El Niño phenomenon and an electricity shortfall, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is spending P100 billion this year to pump prime the economy that was battered by the full impact of the global economic crisis last year, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday.

THE government has earmarked P100 billion for stimulus spending this year, only about a third of what it spent last year, as it struggles to trim its fiscal deficit estimated at P293 billion.

Quality employment key to poverty alleviation, UN official says 22 March 2010 –Decent employment opportunities are essential for countries to achieve economic growth and alleviate poverty, the head of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said today, stressing the need to create more and better jobs each year.

Several controversies in the human rights department and various unsavory political events have demoted the status of “freedom in the Philippines” during the years of the Arroyo administration as assessed by Freedom House. From “free” we are now only “partly free,” according to the studies of the nonprofit organization co-founded, during the rise of Hitler’s…

MANILA, Philippines—Majority of private business leaders in the Philippines reported higher stress levels over the last year but they were a bit better off than most of overseas peers as the local stress barometer fell below global average for the first time in four years, based on the Grant Thornton International Business Report 2010.

The Philippines is forecast to grow at 3.5 percent this year, owing to a stronger outlook for the world economy, rising deployment of overseas workers that will boost remittances, recovery in private consumption and robust public spending, according to the World Bank’s latest issue of the Philippines Quarterly Update (PQU).

MANILA, Philippines – With more positive data favoring faster economic recovery, the World Bank is sticking to its 3.5 percent growth forecast for the Philippine economy this year despite the adverse impact of El Niño and government’s massive stimulus spending last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Awash with dollars from $18 billion in overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) remittances a year, the Philippine economy is now afflicted with the Dutch Disease, a malady that sees the decline of local industries, fuels an overvalued peso, makes exports costly and imports cheap and results in jobless growth.

MANILA, Philippines – The World Bank on Monday raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for the Philippines to 3.5% from 3.1% due to a recovering global economy and increased private consumption and public spending.

Much has been made about Gov. Joey Salceda’s remarks about the poverty rate earlier this week. Those who made much about it laced the remarks with undue political speculation.

THE government will encourage companies in Mindanao, where power outages are happening daily, to shift their working hours at night when demand for electricity is lower, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – The government must create three to four million quality jobs every year to bridge the employment gap in the country, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said yesterday.

PALACE ADVISER SAYS MANILA, Philippines — An economic adviser of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lamented that the rich got richer while the ranks of the poor swelled even further amid heady economic growth in the last nine years.

Salceda: Rich also became richer MANILA, Philippines—The rich have gotten richer, but the ranks of the poor have expanded amid the economic growth since 2001, an economic adviser of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines – The timing of the implementation of an exit strategy from an accommodative policy stance emerged as one of the major risks that could derail the recovery of the country’s domestic economy from a major slump last year, a top official of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday.