Published January 21, 2021, 12:51 AM
There seems to be wide agreement about the need to open the country’s economy to greater foreign investment. But the private business sector along with some government economic officials are for doing this via several pending economic bills, while the country’s politicians are for amending the Philippine Constitution to do it.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, generally known as the voice of Philippine business, said there are already several pending economic reform bills in Congress. There is the Public Service Amendment, already approved by the House of Representatives and now pending in the Senate Committee on Public Services, which would lift limitations on foreign equity ownership in some sectors currently classified as public utilities, including telecommunications and transport. It would limit the term “public utility” to three sectors – distribution of electricity, transmis
By Dr. Jaime Jimenez
In a pandemic, the prevention of a wider spread of a virus and economic recovery are the essentials of the day. Among other things, budgeting during a pandemic needs to focus on three things: response measures, social protection, and economic stimulus.
The theme of the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA), signed and approved on Dec. 28, 2020, is “Reset, Rebound and Recover: Investing for Resiliency and Sustainability.”
With this theme, building health and economic resilience, specifically the “Build, Build, Build” program, agriculture, the food value chain, and other new normal priorities will be given due importance by reprioritizing the 2021 and 2022 national budgets, according to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 18) The Development Bank of the Philippines did not give the Lopez Group of Companies a free pass from its soured ₱1.6 billion loans in the early 2000s.
Dumper PTDA Party-list Rep. Claudine Diana Bautista, who asked for the House inquiry, said the write-off cost the Filipino people s money.
However, the state-owned bank denied writing off the unpaid loans of the Lopez family for its current and former subsidiaries Benpres Holdings, Bayan Telecommunications, Maynilad Water, and Central CATV (also known as SkyCable) when it sold these debts in an asset sale in 2006.
DBP President Emmanuel Herbosa said the non-performing debts – or those which are behind amortizations for over 180 days – were sold to Lehman Brothers Asia Limited on October 16, 2006, which comes years after the 1997 Asia Financial Crisis and precedes the Global Financial Crisis from 2007 to 2009.
PASIG CITY, Jan. 19 After experiencing one of the longest lockdowns necessary to capacitate the Philippine health system, the country needs to safely allow economic activities driven by the country’s young population, the country’s Chief Economist said.
In the National Economic Recovery Forum attended by over 500 university and college students and organized by the Junior Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said that the Philippines has a young population, as 40 percent are 20 years old and below, and it is their activities with their families that help spur growth in various sectors. However, with children not allowed to go out, the economy suffered from dampened demand.
January 17, 2021 | 10:55 pm Font Size
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THE PESO is seen climbing further against the greenback this week, with the market likely to be bullish amid the leadership change in the United States.
The local unit finished trading at P48.065 against the dollar on Friday, inching up from its P48.07 close on Thursday, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.
Week on week, it also appreciated by 2.3 centavos from its P48.088-per-dollar close on Jan. 8.
The peso strengthened on the back of the record high gross international reserve (GIR) level seen at end-2020, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message.