President Duterte’s economic team on Tuesday expressed confidence that the economy will rebound starting the second quarter with mass vaccination in full swing and government spending, especially on infrastructure, remaining strong. During the Economic Journalists’ Association of the Philippines’ (Ejap) midyear forum, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said “we might appear to be behind our…
A number of foreign companies have signified interest to invest in the country’s offshore mining sector, encouraged by the recent issuance of Executive Order No. 130 that lifted the moratorium on the approval of new mining permits. The Offshore Mining Chamber of the Philippines (OMCP) over the weekend said several investors from at least were…
Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. (InLife) is optimistic that it will sustain the strong growth performance it posted during the first four months under the helm of its newly appointed chief. “Our sales metrics are very encouraging. Our first-trimester results are giving us double-digit growth in agency and group sales,” InLife president and chief executive…
The Bureau of the Treasury on Monday raised a bigger P21 billion from short-dated treasury bills as rates declined across the board due to stable inflation and improving economic prospects. The Treasury was supposed to sell only a total of P15 billion or P5 billion each across the three tenors but it doubled the award…
After being bludgeoned by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Megawide Construction Corp. returned to profitability in the first quarter of this year as belt-tightening measures made up for slower revenues generated by the construction and infrastructure businesses. Megawide booked an attributable net profit of P2.9 million in the first three months, much smaller than the…
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and Nestlé Philippines announced their partnership to upskill workers and trainers in the agriculture sector through the Tesda registered Coffee Production Level II Program and Scholarship. This progressive Robusta coffee production training program provides enterprise-based competency training in coffee farming to aspiring agripreneurs, particularly smallholder farmers and indigenous…
(Editor’s note: We begin with this commentary a series on big ideas and bold moves that some of the country’s leading business leaders are ready to share and act on as the Philippines navigates through a changing business environment.) In my years as head of engineering for the SM malls, I had come to realize…
Amid expectations of slower growth this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has committed to sustain its short-term financing arrangement with the national government and assist in economic recovery, Governor Benjamin Diokno said on Friday. At the Washington-based Institute of International Finance’s (IIF) 2021 Asia-Pacific Summit, Diokno said the BSP had already released P2…
GMA Network Inc. chair and CEO Felipe Gozon on Wednesday revived a ratings war with rival ABS-CBN Corp. amid a wave of interest from investors after GMA became the country’s dominant television broadcaster by default. During the firm’s annual shareholders meeting, Gozon touted GMA’s superior TV ratings after ABS-CBN’s broadcast business was shuttered by the…
Food giant Monde Nissin Corp. has bagged global funds as long-term investors in its anticipated P55.9-billion public debut this month. In a statement on Wednesday, Monde Nissin claimed it had secured commitments from 11 cornerstone investors. These were AIA Investment Management Private Ltd., Stichting Depositary APG Emerging Markets Equity Pool, Avanda Investment Management Pte. Ltd.,…