Philippines Microeconomic Weekly Update # 12

  • November 7, 2022
  • Posted by: Julia Garcia
  • Category: Weekly Updates
No Comments

 MACROECONOMICS WEEKLY UPDATE

The Philippine peso appreciated against the US dollar ahead of the long weekend. The local currency appreciated to P57.97 from its 58.22 close on Thursday, which is the strongest in more than a month.

The Aboitiz Group is helping President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s economic team pitch the Philippines as an attractive investment destination to American businessmen. Joining him are RFM Corporation and Ayala Corporation.

Severe Tropical Storm Nalgae pounded the Philippines on Saturday after unleashing flash floods and landslides, winding up to 95 kilometers per hour. It is said to have left at least 45 people dead, 17 people missing and 20,000 evacuated. 

The new government faces the risk that its planned revenue-raising measures and spending efficiency “may not be realized”. The debt watcher expects growth to rebound to 6.8% in 2022, fueled by strong domestic demand two years after the global COVID-19 outbreak.

Philippines’ US dollar reserves are expected to get a boost from the planned repurchase agreement between the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the US Federal Reserve. This would complement US dollar funding/swap agreements of the country with other central banks in Asia/globally.

POWER AND UTILITIES  

   Prime Infrastructure Capital of ultra billionaire Enrique K. Razon Jr. is now a 45 percent stakeholder in Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project. Prime Infra assumed full ownership and control of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX) just 3 months ago.

ACEN Australia said the financing is part of its debt raise targeting AUD$600 million. It follows an AUD$140m long-term, green loan agreement with Japanese lender MUFG and an AUD100m facility agreement with DBS Bank.

INFRASTRUCTURE  

Construction of the P46.8 billion Davao City Bypass is expected to be completed by 2027. It is among the priority large-scale infrastructure projects started during the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte. 

AyalaLand Logistics Holdings Corp. reported a 45 percent jump in consolidated net income to P565 million. Warehouse leasing revenues stood at P518 million, up 73 percent driven by additional gross leasable area.

INVESTMENTS 

Business strategist Joseph Calata is facing tax evasion charges from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. He and Agri Phil Corp. were accused of “willful failure to pay taxes” amounting to P88.865 million. Calata was banned for life by the Philippine Stock Exchange for manipulating the stock market.

The International Finance Corp. (IFC) has launched its first sustainability-linked bond in the hospitality sector. The bond is being issued as part of CapitaLand Ascott Trust’s S$2 billion multicurrency debt issuance program. It has a fixed coupon rate of 1.05 percent per annum and is paid semi-annually in arrears.

BANKING AND FINANCE  

The banking arm of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., led by its president Michelangelo Aguilar and chairman Francis Chua, officially received its universal bank certificate from the Monetary Board. Bank of Commerce’s license was upgraded from a regular commercial bank to a universal bank.

BDO’s net profit grew to P40 billion in the first nine months of the year. Gross customer loans rose 10 percent, largely funded by low-cost current account/savings account deposits. Still, BDO maintained its conservative provisioning policy by setting aside provisions of P12.2 billion.

Asia United Bank (AUB) grew its net income by more than half in the nine months through September. AUB booked a net profit of P4.6 billion from January to September, 57 percent higher than the P2.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.

FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS 

RFM Corp., the food and beverage concern of the Conception family, grew its net income by six percent in the first nine months of the year. The increase was attributed to the 17 percent growth in revenues the company generated during the period amounting to P13.41 billion.

GAMING 

Premium Leisure Corp. posted a net income P1.22 billion in the first nine months, 36 percent higher than the same period in 2021. Subsidiary PremiumLeisure and Amusement Inc. recorded a 50 percent year-on-year jump in revenue to P1.45 billion.

FINTECH 

GCash has joined forces with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology. The agreement will strengthen collaboration to go after perpetrators involved in phishing, smishing, online fraud, e-scams, vishing, and other cybercrimes.

PHILIPPINE STOCK MARKET 

The PSEi started the week in the green, gaining 52.81 pts (+0.86%) to close at 6,206.24 as companies continued to disclose strong 3Q earnings. 

Trading ended mixed for the sectoral indices, as gains from Property (+3.54%) and Holdings (+1.52%) were partially offset by the drop in Mining & Oil (-0.40%) and Services (-1.75%).

Value turnover rose to P6B (vs. last week’s average of only P4.3B while net foreign flows were positive (+P581M). Among index movers were SM (+2.80%), ALI (+6.67%) and ICT (-6.07%).

Related Posts