Economic news that matters

According to the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Inc. (IDEA) latest Newsbriefs, a weekly digest produced by IDEA, Inc. to highlight the most recent national and international economic events, the General Wholesale Price Index (GWPI) at the national level continued to slow down to 4 percent in January from 5.8 percent in December. Annual decreases were reported in selected indices like crude materials, except fuels and chemicals. Moreover, the annual gains in commodity indices eased during the month. While the index for machinery and transport grew by 1.8 percent.

According to the researchers of IDEA, the month-on-month increment in GWPI at the national level jumped by 0.5 percent in January from negative 0.2 percent in December. The food indices contributed to the upward increase of 0.8 percent in January from negative 0.6 percent in December.

Furthermore according to the same published report, banks’ resources in 2011 is up by 5.3 percent to Php7.613 trillion. Universal and commercial banks accounted for about 90 percent of the total resources or about P6.833 trillion of the banking system by end-2011, up 6.4 percent from the P6.424 trillion the previous year. Thrift banks has about Php596 billion in resources, up by 5 percent compared to 2010.

Per IDEA, the central bank said that the government paid less foreign loans in 2011 as a result of hefty payments made in 2010. Total prepayments reached US$1.5 billion, just a third of what was paid in 2010. A total of US$1.3 billion or 87 percent of the total prepayments were made by private sector borrowers.

Moreover the Philippine Stock Exchange followed the Security and Exchange Commission’s approval of the listing of the GT Holdings Corporation and East West Banking Corporation’s listing in the bourse making it the first two IPO’s for 2012. On the other hand, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) seized Php9.3 million worth of smuggled goods from China and Japan. A company attempted to bring in Php4.5 million value of a Porsche without paying duties. Another company accused of smuggling cloth of PHp3.3 million from Japan. In January, the bureau netted only Php23 billion, against the Php26-billion target. The drop continued in February, with only Php20.97 billion collected, compared to the goal of Php25.67 billion.

Lastly, a five-year waiver for rice import quotas set to due on June has been requested from the World Trade Organization, in exchange for lower tariffs. The current 40 percent in-quota tariff will be reduced to a still-unspecified level. Last November, the government formally filed its intent to start talks on extending the rice import quota, set at 350,000 metric tons subject to the 40 percent duty. Imports in excess are subjected to a 50 percent rate, according to IDEA.

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