PHL EYES EURO BOND
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n Tuesday, April 20, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 188
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages |
OFFER TO RAISE FUNDS
FISH vendors at the Las Piñas Market splash water on their fish display on Monday (April 19, 2021), as calls mounted for a tighter watch by government on the prices of meat and fish in wet markets. On Sunday, Sen. Francis Pangilinan warned of a serious fish supply shortage if Chinese vessels continue to poach in the West Philippine Sea. NONIE REYES
T
By Bernadette D. Nicolas
@BNicolasBM
HE Philippine government may soon offer euro-denominated bonds in a bid to raise more funds for budgetary support.
This possible return to the euro bond market may come more than a year after it successfully issued zero-coupon euro-denominated
bonds in February 2020 wherein it raised 1.2 billion euros. In an announcement on Monday, the government said it has
US meat exporters say ready to supply more pork to PHL By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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@jearcalas
HE United States is in a good position to supply possible additional pork imports from the Philippines after the government slashed tariffs to 5 percent in its bid to boost domestic supply and pull down retail prices, the US Meat Exporters Federation (USMEF) said. In an exclusive interview with the BusinessMirror, the USMEF said the US, the country’s third top source of pork imports, “is well poised to help fulfill any surge in import demand” from the Philippines. The USMEF explained that the US pork production this year is expected to grow by 1.3 percent, which
is equivalent to an additional output of 170,000 metric tons (MT). That volume, the group noted, is “approximately the total volume of pork the Philippines imported from all suppliers last year.” “In short, supply is adequate,” the USMEF told the BusinessMirror. And even if China’s pork imports this year are forecast to remain “very large,” the USMEF said additional imports from the Philippines “should not put any great strain on global supplies” as there is available pork in the world market. The USMEF said it does not see “any major obstacles to filling substantially higher import needs” of the Philippines due to ample supply availability. Continued on A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.3930
appointed BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nomura, and Standard Chartered Bank as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings in Asia, Europe and the United States commencing on April 19th 2021. “A proposed 4Yr and/or 12Yr and/or 20Yr euro-denominated US SEC-Registered Senior Unsecured Benchmark bond offering [the ‘Notes’] may follow, subject to market conditions,” it said.
The possible bond offering is expected to be rated Baa2 by Moody’s, BBB+ by S&P, and BBB by Fitch, it added. Should the euro bond offering push through, this would be the country’s second offshore bond sale this year after it sold ¥55 billion ($500 million or about P24.2 billion) in three-year zero-coupon Samurai bonds last month. The country aims to borrow a total of P3.03 trillion this year, roughly the same amount it borrowed in 2020. See “Euro bond,” A2
DAR TELLS SOLONS PORK IMPORTS WILL BE ‘CALIBRATED’ By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
& Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
P
@joveemarie
RESIDENT Duterte still backs the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) decision to temporarily lower the tariff for pork despite the opposition of lawmakers and other stakeholders. This, as Dar assured members of the House of Representatives the arrival of the pork imports will be closely “calibrated” to avoid upending the market and hurting local producers. Another senator, meanwhile joined calls for Duterte to hold a dialogue with stakeholders, amid continuing concerns the back-to-back move to cut tariffs while expanding minimum access volume of pork imports will lead to the “collapse” of the P300-billion local hog industry. In an online press briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Agriculture Secretary William Dar still has the confidence of the President, when it comes to addressing the local pork shortage. “It appears the President still
trusts the advice of Secretary Dar even if it is contrary to that of the senators,” Roque said. Roque was referring to DA’s proposal to lower the tariff, while increasing the MAV or established in-quota for pork. The Palace released Executive Order 128, which temporarily lowered the tariff of fresh, chilled or frozen meat of swine for at least a year.
Dar assures House
AMID the increasing calls to revoke EO 128, Secretary Dar on Monday assured Congress of a “calibrated arrival” of pork imports into the country, apparently to allays fears of a flood of imported meat. During a joint hearing of House Committee on Agriculture and Food and House Committee on Trade and Industry, Dar reiterated that EO 128 would not “kill” the Philippine hog industry. “Our ultimate goal is really the imports will lower the prices of pork and tame inflation. We would like to assure that calibrated arrival of said imports will be properly managed,” he said. Continued on A8
n JAPAN 0.4450 n UK 66.9469 n HK 6.2275 n CHINA 7.4209 n SINGAPORE 36.2495 n AUSTRALIA 37.3836 n EU 57.9555 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9041
Source: BSP (April 19, 2021)