Finance

Rates of Treasury bill dropped to record lows in Monday’s auction amid the excess liquidity in the financial system and the decision of Standard & Poor’s to upgrade the country’s foreign debt rating.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) has placed a total of 23 banks under receivership as of end October this year. That is equivalent to 59 head offices and branches of rural banks throughout the country.

MANILA, Philippines – The non-performing loans (NPL) ratio of the country’s universal and commercial banks improved to 3.11 percent in September from the previous month’s and year ago ratio of 3.25 percent, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported over the weekend.

The controversy over the peace bonds is obscuring the bigger picture of the challenges of Philippine development and of the need for innovative ideas from both government and citizen organizations (my preferred term for civil society which I have always understood from my study of Marx and Hegel as a negative concept) to lift our…

THE PHILIPPINES kept its spot in the bottom 10 of the World Economic Forum’s ranking of the world’s leading financial systems and capital markets for 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – Rates for the bellwether 91-day Treasury bills (T-bills) went down by 17.5 basis points to 3.400 percent from 3.575 percent previously.

MANILA, Philippines – Treasury bill (T-bills) rates fell across the board during yesterday’s auction on the back of hefty inflows from investors and optimism on the economy.

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Prepared by John Kiff, Allison Holland, Michael Kisser, Sylwia Nowak,Samer Saab, Liliana Schumacher, Han van der Hoorn, and Ann-Margret Westin Key Points · Sovereign credit ratings have inadvertently contributed to financial instability. This is because ratings are embedded in various rules, regulations and triggers, so that downgrades can lead to destabilizing knock-on and spillover effects…

It took American politicians almost seven decades to forget the lessons of the Crash of ’29 and the Great Depression that followed. The concentration of wealth in the 1920’s, which coincided with (and arguably was caused by) the loosening of standards governing financial markets, led to the complete meltdown of the U.S. financial system, with…

MANILA, Philippines – Bank lending rose by 12.5 percent in August from a year ago, registering its fastest pace in over a year, as improved consumer and business sentiments drove demand for credit and prompted banks to lend more.

MANILA, Philippines – Treasury bill (T-bill) rates dropped across the board in yesterday’s auction amid strong demand for government debt papers and the high level of liquidity in the market, Deputy Treasurer Eduardo Mendiola said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that the country’s outstanding external debt increased by 9.6 percent in the first half of the year due to the upward foreign exchange revaluation adjustment from the continued weakening of the US dollar as well as the recording of the $1.2-billion special drawing rights…

MANILA, Philippines – The government successfully sold P8.5 billion worth of 91, 182, and 364-day Treasury bills (T-bills) yesterday although there was an uptick in the rate of the shorter-term paper because of the lack of supply in 91-day T-bills.

MANILA, Philippines – The ratio of non-performing loans of universal and commercial banks to the industry’s total loan portfolio improved further to 3.37 percent in July from 3.49 percent in the same period last year as the surprising economic growth in the first half of the year as well as strong corporate earnings enabled borrowers…

THE PHILIPPINES needs to implement more measures to improve accessibility of financial services to levels at par with those of neighboring countries, according to a survey conducted by the World Bank and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP).

MANILA, Philippines – The government sold P8 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) yesterday even as most investors opted for longer-term debt papers.

MANILA, Philippines – Investors swamped yesterday’s Treasury bill (T-bill) auction, ignoring a hostage-taking incident in Manila which involved a dismissed policeman and a bus of foreign tourists and their local guides.

MANILA, Philippines – The ratio of soured loans of universal and commercial banks to the industry’s total loan portfolio improved further in June as corporate and individual borrowers were able to pay their outstanding financial obligations on time in light of the strong corporate earnings as well as faster-than-expected economic growth, the Bangko Sentral ng…

MANILA, Philippines – Bank borrowers continued to enjoy lower rates as the accommodative policy stance of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) provided support to the economy and the favorable inflation outlook as well as well-cemented inflation expectations.

I find it unacceptable for banks to make so much profit when the economy is in bad shape. It implies that their fees are excessive. They charge 9 ½ percent today for commercial loans while they pay only 3.75 percent for a time deposit. The banks’ spread is too big.

MANILA, Philippines – Rates for the benchmark 91-day Treasury bills (T-bills) went down by two basis points to settle at 3.965 percent from the previous rate of 3.985 percent.

MANILA, Philippines – The real lending rate in the Philippines went up in the second quarter due to the continued decline in the inflation rate amid the steady nominal bank lending rates, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported over the weekend.

Don’t you have better things to do? The question often comes across as a critical put down especially coming from people who seem to spend more time asking than doing.

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MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) successfully sold P8 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-blls) in an auction yesterday even as the average rates for the 91- and 182-day debt papers moved up slightly.

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has upgraded its economic forecast for developing Asia to 7.9 percent from the previous 7.5 percent after first-quarter data showed broad-based growth in the region.

Next year, the controversial P10-billion PEACe Bonds, or Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificates which implicated a nongovernment organization that helped put former President Gloria Arroyo in power are set to mature, requiring the government to repay some P35 billion in obligations. Sold in October 2001, the 10-year bonds benefited the Caucus of NGO Networks (CODE-NGO)…

The civil society leaders behind the PEACe Bonds are stoutly denying any claims of graft, greed and favoritism in their successful implementation of their plan to receive a large commission for selling bonds to groups willing to lend money for the use of the Philippine government. Danilo Songco, Code-NGO’s national coordinator at that time—in the…

Critics ask where did the P10B obtained in 2001 go? The return of Corazon “Dinky” Soliman to public prominence as secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development made the media resurrect a controversy involving an organization that she headed until just before she joined the Cabinet of former President Gloria Arroyo in 2001.