three-time rotary club of manila journalism awardee 2006, 2010, 2012
U.N. Media Award 2008
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TfridayNovember 18,4,2014 Wednesday, March 2015Vol.Vol.1010No.No.40146
P25.00 nationwide | 7 sections 32 pages | 7 days a week
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I.N.G. GROUP SAYS CHEAPER OIL COULD INCREASE CURRENT ACCOUNT TO $9B THIS YEAR TO BEAT FORECASTS
‘Current account to keep surplus streak’
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By Bianca Cuaresma
he surplus state of the country’s current account, a key component of the balance of payments (BOP), could prove unbroken yet again this year and totaling as much as $9 billion, according to the Manila unit of the Dutch financial services giant ING Group.
The projected current-account surplus, indicative of an economy that has become a net lender to the rest of the world, was based on anticipated lower oil-imports bill aggregating $13 billion last year alone.
The price of Dubai crude, representing Asia’s oil-import benchmark, has fallen significantly lower thus far this year. As a result, the current-account Continued on A2
GATES AGAIN WORLD’S RICHEST; JORDAN ON LIST OF BILLIONAIRES
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he world’s richest person got even richer this year. And a basketball superstar-turned- owner made the list for the first time. Forbes said on Monday that Bill Gates’s net worth rose to $79.2 billion in 2015, from $76 billion last year. That put him at the top of the magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires for the second consecutive year. The cofounder of Microsoft Corp. has topped the list for 16 of the last 21 years. In second place is Mexican tele-communications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, with a net worth of $77.1 billion. He had topped the list in 2013.
Next is investor Warren Buffett, Continued on A8
PESO exchange rates n US 44.1290
MERALCO’S SERVICE IMPROVEMENT A lineman from Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) installs new electric wiring in Las Piñas City to improve the company’s service. Reports said power supply could go down during the summer months, which could cause brownouts and affect consumers’ electric bills. NONIE REYES
Alveo Land to launch ₧25B worth of projects By VG Cabuag
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lveo Land Corp. on Tuesday said it will launch some P25 billion worth of projects in the first half of the year, and add some 5,000 office and residential units. The Ayala Land Inc. unit also said it expects some P40 billion in sales this year. Robert Lao, Alveo president, said this year’s sales target exceeds last
year’s P36 billion, a record high for the company. It also launched a total of P33 billion worth of projects. “We offer a wide range of residential, office and leisure developments across the country to satisfy the needs of our growing market. This puts us in the best position to take full advantage of the country’s economic growth, as we continue to be present in all key CBDs [central business districts] in Metro Manila,”
Lao said in a briefing. Alveo, the Ayala Land unit that develops projects for the upper- and middle- income segment, may grow about 20 percent every year in the long term, Lao said. “Our base right now is big, so we can’t expect to reach our previous growth rate of between 50 percent [and] 60 percent,” Lao said. Alveo, he said, will be aggressive in introducing more key developments throughout the country, averaging
about 10 project launches per year. For the first half of 2015 alone, launches would amount to at least P25 billion worth of new inventory in Makati City, Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig and in Quezon City. “We have a growing middle class exercising their spending power, boosted by higher consumer confidence; so we are sharpening our Continued on A2
n japan 0.3673 n UK 67.8130 n HK 5.6907 n CHINA 7.0347 n singapore 32.3289 n australia 34.4785 n EU 49.3406 n SAUDI arabia 11.7677 Source: BSP (3 March 2015)