‘Health, cybersecurity risks imperil recovery’ G
FORMER senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. waves to the crowd, estimated at 25,000, at the Partido Federal proclamation rally for him and running mate Sara Duterte Carpio on Tuesday night at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice confirmed that the NBI now has custody of a man whose Tiktok account was linked to an alleged death threat against Marcos. Story on page A4. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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LOBAL and regional economies may be recovering from the pandemic, but such rebound remains at risk from health and cybersecurity concerns, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). Based on the 25th Annual Global CEO Survey-Asia Pacific, PwC Philippines Chairman and Senior Partner Roderick Danao said in a presentation that 76 percent of Asia Pacific CEOs believe the global economy will improve in the next 12 months, the highest level of optimism recorded in 10 years. Risks to this growth include health, with 58 percent of Asia Pacific CEOs saying this is a threat
to their company in the next 12 months; cyber attacks, 44 percent; macroeconomic volatility, 43 percent; climate change, 35 percent; geopolitical conflict, 34 percent; and social inequality, 17 percent. “It seems that better days are ahead of us. We hope we can continue the momentum and sustain the growth trajectory of our respective companies. May Philippine businesses grow in a sustainable manner, taking into account their positive impact on the environment, social development and welfare of broader stakeholders,” Danao said. The data also showed that 6 percent of Asia and the Pacific CEOs said they expect the global economy
to remain the same in the next 12 months, while 17 percent expect the situation to get worse. The results among Asia and the Pacific CEOs are comparable to the results among global CEOs. Some 77 percent of global CEOs expect the global economy to improve; 7 percent to stay the same; and 17 percent to decline. In terms of risks, the PwC study showed that only 22 percent of CEOs in China expressed a higher level of concern for cyber risk in the next 12 months. However, 71 percent of Australian CEOs see cyber risks as the most serious concern, while 76 percent of Malaysian CEOs said the primary
concern is macroeconomic volatility. “This difference reflects the fact that while Asia Pacific’s recovery is optimistic, it continues to be challenged with new, highly transmissible variants and uneven vaccination rollouts. Only China rebounded faster than the rest of the region and is now experiencing growing pains in the form of inflation, real estate bubbles, and supply chain disruptions,” PwC said in a statement. These risks are expected to impact the ability of businesses to sell products and services; attract and retain talent; innovate through technology or processes; and raise capital. C A
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Thursday, February 10, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 125
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BSP cites ‘urgent’ need for better climate data
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EMITTANCE costs remain onerous when one is sending money to Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. Based on ADB data, the average cost of remittances is the highest in the Pacific at 8.9 percent, but sending money to Southeast Asia via banks costs even more, at an average of 16.6 percent. The rates vary per country, the Asian Economic Integration Report (AEIR) 2022 stated. These rates range from 8.8 percent in the Philippines to as much as 46 percent in Thailand. “The average cost of remitting to Asia and the Pacific has been declining but remains higher than the Sustainable Development Goal target of less than 3 percent by 2030,” ADB said. “Remittance costs have been declining slowly, and existing average costs are still almost double the 3-percent Sustainable Development Goal target,” it added. As of the first quarter of 2021, the global average total cost of remittance was 6.4 percent of the transaction amount, said the report. In Asia and the Pacific, the remittance cost is 5.9 percent while the remittance costs in Central Asia and South Asia are lower than the Asian average.
Winners, losers
WHILE remittance service providers mostly handling cash-based, in-person transfers were significantly affected by the lockdown in 2020, digital remittance service providers experienced a surge in their business. ADB, citing studies, said remittances made through mobile money jumped 65 percent to $12.7 billion in 2020. As a result, the Manila-based multilateral development bank said, more than $1 billion was sent and received every month via mobile money. Remittances sent through mobile money globally cost much less than cash at 3.2 percent, compared with 7 percent for cash and 4.4 percent for debit/credit cards. S “ADB,” A
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BAYANI, a 64-foot stainless-steel sculpture by Filipino-American artist Jefrë Figueras Manuel, is seen outside the DoubleDragon Meridian Park, an office and commercial block in the Bay Area in Pasay City. A real estate and builders’ group is asking the Department of Finance to revisit its orders increasing the zonal value of properties amid the Covid-19 pandemic, saying demand that had been weakened by the pandemic is stunting property prices. NONIE REYES
HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) believes there is a need for more “climate change-related” disclosures among banks and other local firms in order to move forward the country’s fight against global warming forward. In a recent report on financial stability, the Central Bank said there is little understanding of the country’s actual exposure to climate change agents because there is limited data disclosure involved. “There is an urgent need for better climate change-related disclosures. The lack of granular data limits our appreciation of the financial costs of climate change and the shift to greener energy sources,” the BSP said in the report. Among the examples of granular data the BSP cited include numbers such as physical risk metrics per firm or household, or the exposure of banks to carbon- vs. renewables-based energy producers. “The cooperation of the private sector is necessary, especially on transparency and the quality of ESG reporting to have better datadriven frameworks,” the BSP said, referring to the new metric for S “BSP,” A
NGCP DRAWS PALACE’S ATTENTION TO ‘CRITICAL’ POWER SITUATION IN ’22 B L L @llectura
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HE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) wants Malacañang to step in and consider other possible measures to help address this year’s “critical” power situation. NGCP officials led by Vice Chairman Robert Coyiuto Jr. and President Anthony Almeda wrote President Duterte to inform him of the updated forecasted power situation, particularly during the summer months and the May 9 elections. NGCP said that based on updat-
ed power plant maintenance movements plus historical unplanned plant shutdown, the NGCP might issue a yellow alert notice for 15 weeks and red alert notice for 14 weeks in the Luzon grid. A red alert status, which could trigger brownouts, is issued when supplies are insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirement. A yellow alert is issued when the excess power is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s regulating and contingency requirement, pegged at the time at about 495 MW and 647 MW, respectively.
“Red and yellow alerts simply mean that the consumers are vulnerable to power interruptions,” said NGCP. This year’s projected peak demand could hit 12,387 MW for Luzon to occur in week 21. This exceeds the 2019 actual demand by 1,043 MW, marking a 9-percent projected growth rate from prepandemic economic levels. In 2021, actual demand stood at 11,640 MW, also exceeding prepandemic peak demand by 296 MW in 2019. As early as January of this year, a yellow alert notice was isS “NGCP,” A
■ US 51.4360 ■ JAPAN 0.4452 ■ UK 69.6649 ■ HK 6.5997 ■ SINGAPORE 38.2452 ■ AUSTRALIA 36.7510 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 13.7104 ■ EU 58.7193 ■ CHINA 8.0798
Source: BSP (February 9, 2022)