Global Financial Crisis – Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the local banking system remained resilient after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) managed to put in place reforms aimed at containing the effects of the global financial crisis.

Franchising seems to be immune from the global financial crisis, with some firms expanding even during the economic turmoil, officials of the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) told The Manila Times in an exclusive roundtable interview on Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – Employees will be receiving their bonus on top of their 13th month pay this year as local firms report full recovery from the global financial crisis, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said.

MANILA, Philippines – More business enterprises are looking at hiring more workers in the first quarter of next year in light of the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of the government as well as the global economic recovery.

MANILA, Philippines – The business sector’s outlook improved for the third straight quarter this year as companies expect low inflation and interest rates, stable peso, sustained foreign exchange inflows, and robust remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

SINGAPORE – President Arroyo said yesterday that the Philippines will continue its fiscal stimulus program and would issue more bonds to finance it.

MANILA, Philippines – Almost a million Filipinos lost their jobs between the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, the peak of the prevailing global financial crisis, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report.

Says meltdown had little effect on Philippines MANILA, Philippines—The global financial meltdown resulted in the loss of 950,000 jobs in the country between October 2008 and March 2009, the Asian Development Bank said in the paper, “How has Asia fared in the global crisis? A tale of three countries: Republic of Korea, Philippines, and Thailand.”

MANILA, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) expects the economy to recover next year now that most of the major economies, including the United States have started registering positive growth again.

MORE Philippine households opted to rack up debt to cope with the global financial crisis, according to state-run Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS). In a presentation, Celia Reyes, PIDS senior research fellow, said the most common coping strategy adopted by households was to borrow money at 39.4 percent of survey respondents.

The jobless situation in the Philippines was likely to worsen this year and next year because of the trade contraction resulting from the global crisis, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap).

MANILA, Philippines – Government agencies will hire some 93,000 unemployed or underemployed Filipinos this year for a P1.77-billion roadside maintenance program in line with President Arroyo’s call for agencies to strengthen the country’s economic foundation in the face of continuing uncertainties in the global economy and international labor markets, Malacañang announced yesterday.

Nearly a million Filipinos lost their jobs from October-December 2008 to January-March 2009 despite the global crisis having had “little impact” on Philippine economic growth and employment, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported.

MANILA, Philippines – Around 375,000 workers displaced during the global financial crisis as well as new jobseekers got new jobs and alternative sources of livelihood in the first half of the year, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – American banking giant Citigroup has scaled down its outlook on Philippine growth this year due to supply shocks caused by tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng.

European businessmen and investors are “cautiously optimistic” that the Philippine economy will rebound by next year as the agri-business, business process outsourcing (BPO), electronics, property development, retail and tourism sectors show growth potentials. “We are looking at 2010 with guarded optimism,” Henry Schumacher, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) executive vice president, said…

THE Philippine economy may go through a ”slow recovery” in the third quarter, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), as its composite leading economic index (LEI) slid further into negative territory. Citing a moderate decline in its LEI, the agency said the indicator slipped to negative 0.425 in the third quarter from a…

Recession ruled out; higher growth seen in 2010 MANILA, Philippines – Saying it had underestimated the Philippines’ productivity potential, the International Monetary Fund raised its economic projection for the country to a growth of 1 percent this year, a turnaround from the earlier forecast of a 1-percent contraction.

MANILA, PHilippines – The country’s economic growth may slow down to a range of 0.7 percent to 1.7 percent this year, lower than the official forecast range of 0.8 percent to 1.8 percent, because of the impact of typhoon Ondoy, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Augusto Santos…

A global information and communication technology (ICT) research and advisory firm has downgraded its growth forecast for the Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in light of the economic downturn. In a statement, XMG Global Inc. said the local BPO sector may close the year with a 21.7-percent to $7.3-billion growth—lower than its previous forecast…

BAUAN, Batangas: Global financial crisis maybe the reason why multinational companies in the light industries sector and different economic processing zone in the region has retrenched most of their employees in the early part of this year, but it’s not the same case with the 234 employees who lost their job last week in this…

THE global slowdown of the past two years left economies high and dry, leaving companies with only three choices to survive: (1) to freeze hiring, (2) to downsize, (3) or to sell out.

THE number of unemployed Filipinos rose in July as both the government and the private sector generated fewer jobs amid an increase in those seeking work, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said Tuesday.

MANILA – Filipinos are dissatisfied with how the government has responded to the global economic crisis, with a BBC World Service-commissioned survey placing their disappointment level as the third highest among 20 countries.

A YEAR AFTER LEHMAN COLLAPSE The banking system today-a year after Lehman-remains stable. It has grown further in asset size and deposit base. It remains generally profitable as banks continue to lend, while delinquencies have stayed within manageable levels.

THE biggest pension fund in the US said it has not pulled out its investments in the Philippines despite uncertainties in emerging markets after the fall of Lehman Brothers a year ago.

MANILA, Philippines – The contraction experienced by the global economy resulting from the financial crisis now makes it virtually impossible to attain the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said there are already signs of economic recovery, indicating that demand for Philippine exports would soon pick up.

MANILA, Philippines – There is no more P10-billion economic stimulus fund in the proposed budget of P1.541 trillion for next year.

MANILA, Philippines – The government plans to implement some P2.5 billion in environmental programs to generate emergency employment for more than 114,000 people this year, Malacañang said yesterday.