LIST: Cuba, Philippines have most number of female inventors in 2021

Cuba and the Philippines have the most female inventors in 2021 with pending international patent applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. Cuba has 53 percent while the Philippines has a 38 percent share of female inventors among applicants for international patents, the data released by the World Economic Forum showed. Both Cuba and the Philippines exceeded the global average share of female inventors with applications for international patents which was at 17 percent, data showed.

PH macroeconomic fundamentals buoy economic recovery: Dominguez

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said he is confident the country's strong macroeconomic fundamentals would help sustain the domestic economy’s continued recovery despite risks posed by external issues. In an interview over CNBC on Friday, Dominguez said the national government has reduced the amount of bridge financing from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) from USD10.8 billion (PHP540 billion) to USD6 billion (PHP300 billion). “We expect to pay this off by June this year,” he said. The national government has requested the BSP for funding accommodation since 2020 to boost the funds used on programs to address the impact of the pandemic.

Fitch Ratings affirms PH status at 'BBB'

Fitch Ratings on Friday retained its "BBB" classification for the Philippines due to its strong external position but maintained its negative outlook and noted its weakness on per capita income, governance standards, and human development. In a report, the debt rater said its latest rating action on the country “reflects weak government revenue mobilization compared with peers and government debt/GDP (gross domestic product) that rose sharply from pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels but is forecast to stay close to the 'BBB' median over the next few years.” “The Negative Outlook reflects uncertainty about medium-term growth prospects as well as possible challenges in unwinding the policy response to the health crisis and bringing government debt on a firm downward path,” it said.

New, higher taxes eyed to service PH debts

With less than five months remaining in office, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III proposed on Friday new or higher taxes to pay for the foreign debts the Duterte administration incurred to address the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are very confident that 2022 will be the year that we will return to normalcy,” he said in an interview with CNBC. Dominguez said the government’s mass vaccination would pave the way for the reopening of more productive economic sectors to achieve 7 percent to 9 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year. But the Duterte administration only has 132 days left in office and the next administration would have to deal with the debts the government incurred for the vaccines and other needs during the pandemic.

DOH: Gov't still studying return to 'new normal' Alert Level 1 by March

With cases around the country going down and vaccination numbers rising, the national government is preparing to shift to Alert Level 1 or the “new normal,” the head of the One Hospital Command Center said Sunday. Speaking in an interview aired over DZBB Super Radyo, health undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega said that the IATF would mull a shift to Alert Level 1 once more by end-February. The Department of Health has since taken the position that the public will "have to move on and live with the virus." "We are still looking at the metrics now and they are good, although they are looking good... under Alert Level 1, almost everything is normal but that doesn't mean the virus is gone," he said in Filipino, adding that the relaxing of restrictions should still be done gradually.

Faster rise in consumer prices seen by economists

Economists are now expecting a faster rise in consumer prices this year before easing over the next two years, according to a survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. BSP managing director Zeno Ronald Abenoja said the results of the central bank’s survey of private sector economists for February showed a slight increase in the mean inflation forecast for 2022 to 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent in the January survey. “Analysts expect inflation to settle within the government’s target range in 2022, with broadly balanced risks surrounding the outlook,” Abenoja said.

PPA sees sustained growth in cargo volume

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) sees continued cargo traffic growth this year after volume returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, raising its growth forecast amid optimism in the country’s economic recovery. PPA general manager Jay Santiago told The STAR that a recovery in the maritime trade and shipping is expected to be sustained this year, with the agency now looking at a 7.5 percent growth in cargo volume. PPA’s growth forecast last year for cargo volume for 2022 and 2023 was a conservative one to three percent. 

Philippines may be frontrunner in wind energy development in Asia

The Philippines has the potential to be a frontrunner in wind energy development in Asia if it fully commits to renewable energy, improve permitting and leasing process, and boost its transmission system, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). GWEC said the country is well positioned to be a regional leader in wind energy since it “has an appropriate permitting and auctioning infrastructure in place, and was on track a decade ago to rely primarily on renewable energy.” However, becoming a leader in wind energy development is hindered by a lack of strong policy commitment, drawn-out permitting and leasing process, and transmission bottlenecks.

EU investors urged to buy green bonds

The government has called on investors from Europe  to  support the Philippines’ maiden offering of green bonds. “We recently inaugurated our Sustainable Finance Framework for green bonds to support our climate action commitments. In the coming weeks, the Philippines will issue its first-ever environmental, social and governance sovereign bond for a benchmark size of $500 million,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said. “We look forward to the European investors’ strong support of this landmark offering,” he said. He said the upcoming issuance of green bonds indicates that the Philippines takes climate change seriously. In a separate TV interview, Dominguez said the government has yet to decide  when to issue its first-ever green bonds due to the volatility of the investment environment.

LGUs’ COVID spending reaches P119B

Local government units (LGUs) spent a total of P118.9 billion on their coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response measures as of June 2021, the Department of Finance (DOF) said over the weekend. The DOF said in a statement that based on preliminary data gathered by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), P76.44 billion of the said amount came from the LGUs’ own funds, and another P35.44 billion from the Bayanihan Grant under the 2020 national budget and in view of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the BLGF said LGUs also utilized P4.93 billion of their unexpended cash balances of public funds held in trust that were transferred to the General Fund (GF) of LGUs to support their pandemic response efforts.

Inflation target still at 2-4%

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is sticking to the two to four percent inflation target over the policy horizon despite the recent move of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to shift the base year for the consumer price index (CPI) from 2012 to 2018. BSP Deputy Governor Francisco Dakila Jr. said the central bank is not anticipating any revisions in its inflation target for 2022 to 2024 after the CPI rebasing to reflect changing Filipino household consumption patterns. “While changes in the CPI basket affect actual and forecasted inflation, the BSP is of the view that such changes have no material impact on choice of the appropriate inflation target,” Dakila said.

LIST: COVID-19 vaccination certificates of other countries that PH accepts

Travelers from select countries may now present their respective national COVID-19 vaccination certificates to prove their immunization status in the Philippines, the national pandemic inter-agency task force said. The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has approved the Department of Foreign Affairs' recommendation to recognize such certificates from the following areas in this link.

DOT: Over 21,000 tourist arrivals since Feb. 10 reopening

A total of 21,974 tourists, including returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have arrived in the country since the Philippine government reopened its borders to international tourism, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said Monday. In a TeleRadyo interview, Romulo – Puyat said that the top sources of foreign tourists were the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and South Korea.

“Meron din tayo from Australia, Vietnam, and Japan. The list is long pero ‘yun ‘yung mga top natin,” Puyat added.

Nomura warns of credit rating downgrade

Japanese investment bank Nomura said the likelihood of the Philippines getting a credit rating downgrade from Fitch Ratings may rise after the elections. In a report, Nomura chief ASEAN economist Euben Paracuelles and analyst Rangga Cipta said the decision of Fitch to retain the BBB or one notch above minimum investment grade and negative outlook of the Philippines last week could pave the way to a downgrade soon. “The decision to maintain the negative outlook is consistent with our view that the likelihood of a credit rating downgrade by Fitch could rise after the elections in May, owing to the weak economic recovery, the risk of scarring effects, and uncertain prospects for the medium-term path of fiscal consolidation, given the election cycle,” Paracuelles and Cipta said.

SEC crafts new rules on creation of umbrella funds

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will give investment companies more leeway in their fund offerings by allowing the creation of umbrella funds that can create sub-funds with segregated assets and liabilities. The measure aims to provide investment companies and their fund managers greater operational flexibility and cost savings, the SEC said. In industry parlance, an umbrella fund that contains two or more sub-funds which, in turn, may have different investment objectives, policies and strategies.

Ph exports of ‘strategic’ goods surged to $4.5B in ’21

The Philippines last year exported $4.5 billion worth of goods that could be used by the military, shipped mostly to the United States, a huge jump from only $3.6 million in 2020, when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) started authorizing these exports under a 2015 law. These are called “strategic goods,” or products that, for security reasons or due to international agreements, are considered to be of such military importance that their export is either prohibited altogether or subject to specific conditions, according to the Strategic Trade Management Act (STMA).

Expert says COVID situation in Metro improving

Now is a “good time” for the government to put Metro Manila under the least strict Alert Level 1, an infectious disease specialist and a member of the Vaccine Experts Panel yesterday said, citing the downward trend in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the region. “I think the trend is really improving, especially with the daily cases that we have, and I think it’s a good time to downgrade the alert level,” Dr. Rontgene Solante said in an interview with ABS CBN’s Teleradyo. Solante also said in Filipino: “At this point, I think we can already downgrade to Alert Level 1. But I want to emphasize that the lowering to Alert Level 1 does not mean that things are back to normal already.”

Business: Let economy run at full speed

Businessmen believe the economy should run at full speed to make up for the loses of the last two years and bring GDP expansion this year to as fast 7.5 percent. But the businessmen also cautioned against some headwinds like the geopolitical tensions in Ukraine that could impact the Philippines. They are nevertheless hopeful whoever will be the next president will make the economy a priority and will pursue the economic reforms started by the current administration. Henry Lim Bon Liong, president of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., said at the Pandesal Forum yesterday he expects the GDP to expand between 6.5 and 7.5 percent this year on the back of strong economic fundamentals, the socio-economic reforms, sound fiscal and monetary policy and the Build, Build, Build program.

Philippines faces risks from mounting debt — analysts

The Philippine economy may face risks from mounting debt amid impending global monetary policy tightening, analysts said. “If your debt is growing, then you’re vulnerable to rising interest rates, which might happen in the near future, because the US might reverse its current, easy monetary policy stance,” University of the Philippines School of Economics professor Renato E. Reside, Jr. said at an online webinar on Monday. The US Federal Reserve has signaled it might start raising rates from near zero as early as March. Outstanding debt last year swelled by P2 trillion or by 20% year on year to P11.73 trillion, based on data from the Bureau of the Treasury.

Policy normalization seen in 2nd half

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may start normalizing policy rates towards the second half of this year as it expects the economy’s output gap to close, a central bank official said. “Our estimate is that the output gap could close in the second half of this year, and then it will turn positive thereafter,” Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr. said at a Thursday briefing. “There is enough headroom for continued accommodative monetary policy in the near term with possible normalization to begin towards the second half of 2022.” Mr. Dakila said that while inflation is likely to stay within the target 2-4% range, rising demand as the economy improves could cause faster price increases.

BSP has room to keep policy rates low

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said there is “room to maneuver” on monetary policy amid manageable inflation and the improving economy. “We have decided to wait a little bit… I think we still have room to maneuver because the inflation outlook looks good and of course, growth also is picking up and unemployment is going down,” he told Bloomberg Television.  “We’ll wait until [we see] what happens in the US and the extent to which they will tighten [rates],” he added, referring to the anticipated rate hike by the Federal Reserve starting March.

Meat importers insist pork MAV+ needs to be extended

The Meat Importers and Traders Association (Mita) is backing the extension of the expanded minimum access volume (MAV+) on pork to ensure the country’s supply of the meat product until local hog raisers totally recover from African swine fever (ASF). The group made the position in expectation of stiffer competition in the global meat market as the world’s largest pork producers face threats from ASF while other pork-importing countries like Vietnam plan to lower their tariffs to augment their pork supply. Mita said they expect global pork prices to “significantly increase” starting summer due to tightening supply in key pork-producing countries in Europe and North America, and in China.

What it takes to get back: 7-8% GDP growth in 6 years

The Philippines needs to post GDP growth of 7 to 8 percent annually in the next six years in order to regain what the economy lost during the pandemic, according to an economist from the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE). In a presentation on Monday at the #PILIpiLUNAS2022 webinar, UPSE Associate Professor Renato Reside Jr. said this level of growth annually, or higher, could help finance future deficits. Reside said higher growth is needed because the next administration must allocate 2 to 3 percent of GDP annually in the next six years as fiscal stimulus to regain the jobs lost during the pandemic.