Newsbriefs that matter

According to IDEA’s latest NewsBriefs, “a total of $1.7 billion worth of foreign liabilities were prepaid by both the private and public sectors in the seven months to July due to peso appreciation. According to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., the public sector’s share on the prepayments amounted to $1.1 billion, inclusive of the $800 million paid by the central bank.” Likewise, it was reported, “as of end-June, outstanding external debt amounted to $53 billion, lower by 1.9% from the $54 billion seen as of end-March. This is said to be caused by rising investments of domestic banks in national debt instruments issued abroad coupled with the negative foreign exchange revaluation adjustments on third currency-denominated accounts. In addition, a 1.6% year-on-year drop to $873 million in debt stock was observed.”

Furthermore, “positive performance of state firms coupled with that of local government units ballooned the total public sector surplus to P24 billion, a significant increase from the P50.8 billion deficit expected for the period and the P13.4 billion surplus observed in the same period last year.”

On the Monetary Sector, IDEA’s Newsbriefs reported that “demand for money (M3) eased to 14.9% in August from the 18.7% posted in July. Month-on-month, a 1.6% drop from a 0.8% rise in July was observed in the seasonally adjusted M3 in August. In addition, net foreign assets sustained its growth while net domestic assets fell by 4.6% in the same month. According to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., aside from rising oil prices and rapid capital flows, heightened food prices abroad posed as an added threat to current inflation outlook. The European market recently witness rising wheat prices with tight supply, while the US grain markets experienced the same due to robust demand worldwide. These trends could affect the country as it was anticipated that the multinational supermarket chains would pass the rising prices to domestic consumers.”

While on the Corporate Sector, Flag-carrier Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL) was released from rehabilitation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because of the company’s better financial condition, enhanced ability to pay liabilities, concurrence to the rehabilitation plan, improved expected cash flows, and sustainable profitability, according to IDEA.

Incidentally, NewsBriefs is a weekly digest produced by the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Inc. (IDEA) to highlight the most recent national and international economic events. The following are excerpts from said publication reprinted here to share some interesting news and figures. 

(Mr. Ed Limtingco can be reached at 0917-7220521 or at [email protected])