RP bourse rated No 1 among 20 markets

NEW YORK (via PLDT) – The New York-based stock market analyst and media research organization Bloomberg rated the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) as number one among 20 countries it reviewed from Jan. 1 to Feb. 1 this year.

As per Bloom—berg report, the Philippine composite index (Phisix) advanced by as much as 19.38 percent, beating Jakarta which grew only by 16.66 percent.

The Philippine stock market also outperformed Russia (4th) and Thailand (5th). Bloom—berg listed Nikkei as the "worst performing" along with China, Brazil, Hang Seng, and Stockholm.

This bit of information was relayed Saturday night to President Arroyo by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez who is with her official party. Alvarez said he got the report from New York-based Philippine Fund manager, Lilia Clemente.

Alvarez reported the findings of Bloomberg when he spoke before the official World Summit on Sustainable Development being held here.

President Arroyo was "euphoric" when shown the Bloomberg comparative chart of the "best performing indices" in terms of equity indices.

"Yehey! Yehey!" President Arroyo exclaimed with a tap of her hand on the table while conducting a press conference at her suite at St. Regis Hotel.

The President instructed Alvarez to reproduce copies of the Bloomberg report on the Phisix with accompanying charts tracing its historic high record of trading in February last year.

President Arroyo expressed her elation over the remarkable recovery of the PSE as indicated by the graph tracing the growth of the index.

"That means the recession has bottomed out and we’re back to recovery," President Arroyo pointed out.

"Look at our stock markets, Look at our bond offerings. Look at what J.P. Morgan says. All of those don’t come by accident."

President Arroyo though conceded that much of the activity in the PSE can be attributed to the return of "hot money" or a term used to connote the portfolio investments or the kind of funds that come and go at the slightest jitters in the market.

"But even then, when the hot money was not yet here, our economy grew by 3.8 percent when our exports were down. We could have more growth if these hot money come back," the President pointed out.

"Our challenge now is to make them (hot money investors) stay. We have to tell the world what we are doing to convince them to come and stay," the President said.

These things, she said, come as direct fruits of her administration’s efforts to build the image of the Philippines abroad as an investment destination every time she goes out of the country on foreign visits.

She just concluded a working visit to London last Jan. 28, before proceeding to Canada on Jan. 30-31 and then flew to New York as the last stop of her latest foreign travel since assuming office in Malacañang on Jan. 20 last year.

President Arroyo likened herself to a chief executive officer of a corporation who is runs the affairs of the government and the country by conducting these business meetings abroad.

When she spoke at the World Economic Forum here at the Waldorf Astoria with several other world leaders, President Arroyo noted she came under intense grilling about the Philippine economic prospects.

"Like in terms of governance, parang kinikilatis nila tayo," she told Filipino reporters.