IN BRIEF

PSA keeps Q1 economic growth estimate at 6.4%

THE Philippine Statistics Authority on Wednesday maintained its 6.4-percent gross domestic product growth estimate in the first quarter despite some revisions in the performance of several industries.

“The first quarter 2023 gross domestic product growth rate was maintained at 6.4 percent. Major changes were recorded in three industries: education, from 5.8 percent to 6.6 percent; accommodation and food service activities, from 26.9 percent to 27.8 percent; and construction, from 10.8 percent to 11.1 percent,” it said in a statement on its website.

It revised the gross national income growth in the first quarter from 9.9 percent to 10.0 percent, as the net primary income from the rest of the world was adjusted from 81.2 percent to 82.4 percent.

The PSA revises the GDP estimates based on an approved revision policy (PSA Board Resolution No. 1, Series of 2017-053) consistent with international standard practices on national accounts revisions.

It will release the second-quarter GDP figures on Thursday. Julito G. Rada

Maya corners 61% share of digital bank accounts

MAYA cornered a 61-percent market share of digital banking accounts as of the first quarter of 2023, which solidified its position as the leading digital bank in the country.

Latest data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed Maya also secured 71 percent of total depositors and 46 percent of the total deposit balance among licensed digital banks during the period. The milestone was achieved in less than a year since Maya’s public launch in April 2022.

More than 1.8 million Filipinos have created their own deposit accounts, collectively accumulating about P21 billion in deposit balance.

The number of Filipinos choosing Maya as their preferred digital bank also continued to grow. Maya has drawn the trust of 2.3 million depositors, amassing a remarkable P25 billion in deposit balance, as of end-June 2023.

Shailesh Baidwan, group president at Maya and co-founder of Maya Bank, said in a statement the bank would continue to create innovative and meaningful financial services for the large segments of unbanked and unhappily banked customers. Julito G. Rada

First Gen’s six-month recurring income up 30%

LOPEZ Group‘s clean and renewable energy provider First Gen Corp. said Wednesday recurring net income climbed 30 percent in the first half to $167 million (P9 billion) from $128 million (P7 billion) in the same period in 2022 on higher earnings of geothermal subsidiary.

The company is bullish of continued better performance in the remaining months of the year, with the expected operations of its liquefied natural natural gas terminal in Batangas.

“We hope to carry over the good performance of the first half in the next six months. We are looking forward to a number of significant milestones that are expected to happen for the remainder of the year, including the commercial operations of our LNG terminal at the First Gen Clean Energy Complex,” First Gen president and chief executive Francis Giles Puno said. He said the closing and turnover of the 165-megawatt Casecnan hydroelectric power plant purchased in May from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. and the start of construction of the 100 MW pump storage expansion in Lake Aya at the Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric plants in Nueva Ecija were expected to further strengthen First Gen’s second-half performance. Alena Mae S. Flores

It would be bigger than the 1,000-MW project of ACEN Corp. which signed a renewable energy contract area utilization agreement with LLDA for 800 hectares also in Laguna Lake.

“Land use is becoming a big issue for renewables particularly for solar energy projects. People and policymakers are worrying about competing uses of land. Currently, project developers are struggling to find land to locate the solar power plants. Most of the time, delays in solar energy projects are normally caused by consolidation of properties and late issuances of land conversion permits. So, there is an incentive to build on water,” said SunAsia.

SunAsia chief executive Tetchi Capellan said that at 1:1 ratio, the government’s target of building 44 GW of solar projects would require some 44,000 hectares of space.

“This is not an easy task to do because we need to balance energy with food, housing and urban development,” she said.

Laguna Lake is the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines covering 90,000 hectares. SunAsia Energy said the allocation of 2,000 hectares for floating solar sites would account for only about 2 percent of the total lake surface.

LLDA said that once operational, the floating solar projects in Laguna Lake could be one of the world’s engineering wonders, attracting visitors all over the world including academics, researchers and developers.

PRIME Asset Ventures Inc., a company led by the Villar Group, on Wednesday finalized the acquisition of the fourkilometer Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway from Ayala Corp. for P3.8 billion.

PAVI said in a statement it signed the implementing agreements for the acquisition of MCX after the Department of Public Works and Highways in July approved the transfer of ownership of from Ayala Corp. to the Villar Group.

Vista Land chairman Manuel Villar Jr. and Ayala Corp. president and chief executive Cezar Consing attended the signing ceremony at Brittany Hotel in

By Alena Mae S. Flores

POWER retailer Manila Electric Co.

announced Wednesday a reduction of P0.2908 per kilowatt-hour in August rates, the second consecutive month of price reduction. Meralco said the overall rate for a typical household went down to P10.8991 per kWh this month from P11.1899 per kWh in July.

Meralco head of utility economics

By Darwin G. Amojelar

EXECUTIVES of United Airlines on Wednesday expressed optimism about the daily nonstop service from Manila to San Francisco on “exploding” demand for US travel.

“We are seeing the travel demand for US exploding as far as international demand is concerned, and we’re very confident that the flight will be well,”

Walter Dias, United’s regional director of sales for Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia, said in a briefing.

“The Philippines is fantastic destination for our customers in the US,” he said. The first westbound flight from SFO to Manila would depart on Oct. 29, 2023. All flights will use the B777300ER aircraft offering 60 seats in the United Polaris business cabin, 24 seats in the United Premium Plus cabin and 266 seats in the United Economy cabin. Dias also expressed confidence that load factor for the Manila to San Francisco service would be higher.

Data from the Department of Tourism showed that US tourists visiting the

Philippines reached 505,089 in 2022. The DOT said travelers from the US accounted for 550,579 or 18.35 percent of the total 3 million tourists in the first seven months of 2023.

United Airlines operates two-times daily flights between Manila and Palau and daily flights from Manila to Guam.

San Francisco is United’s largest hub airport in the US West Coast and a gateway to Asia-Pacific. United operates more than 200 daily departures from San Francisco International Airport, taking customers to more than 100 destinations around the globe, including the most international service with flights to 31 different international cities.

The hub will offer direct flights to 15 Asia-Pacific destinations this winter, including Manila (Philippines), Auckland and Christchurch (New Zealand), Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney (Australia), Haneda/Tokyo, Narita/Tokyo, and Osaka (Japan), Incheon/Seoul (South Korea), Papeete/ Tahiti, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei.

Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

“This momentous event shows our resolve to provide our countrymen better services in the area of roads and toll ways. You’ll be surprised of the many wonderful things to come in Villar City,” Villar said. MCXis a four-kilometer controlledaccess toll road linking the southern part of Cavite to Muntinlupa. It is the first public-private partner project under the Aquino administration. Ayala signed the 30-year concession agreement for the operation of MCX Expressway in 2012. It invested P2.2

Lawrence Fernandez said the high oil prices in the past weeks would have no direct effect as suppliers were not using oil for power generation.

The combined reduction over the past two months now reached P1.0121 per kWh.

Meralco attributed the overall rate decrease to lower generation charge, which registered its third consecutive reduction. It went down by P0.2137 to P6.3929 per kWh from P6.6066 per kWh in July.

Charges from the Wholesale billion for the project including a P902million cash payment to the government.

Ayala announced in March 2022 it would sell its entire stake in MCX Project Company Inc., which holds the concession for the MCX to the Villar Group for P3.8 billion.

“Ayala developed MCX over a decade ago to connect Metro Manila to Imus, Dasmarinas and Bacoor in Cavite which were experiencing rapid growth. MCX succeeded in relieving traffic congestion and reducing the travel time between Metro Manila and Cavite. The sale of MCX represents another example of

United Airlines sees strong demand for new Manila-San Francisco flights Meralco: August power rates dropped P0.29 per kWh on lower generation charges

Electricity Spot Market dropped P1.2873 per kWh as average demand in the Luzon grid fell by more than 200 MW with the onset of the rainy season.

The decrease in spot market prices also reduced the imposition of the secondary price cap.

Meralco sourced around 17 percent of its energy requirement from WESM during the period. Charges from power supply agreements also went down by P0.1688 our recycling capital to benefit from opportunities in our core and emerging businesses,” Consing said.

The acquisition will further expand Villar Group investment portfolio which currently includes housing, retail, food, water, power, and utilities, to integrated resorts and entertainment.

Also present during the signing were Villar Group representatives Sen. Mark Villar, Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar, PAVI President Maribeth Tolentino; Maryknoll Zamora, CFO, PAVI; and other top executives. Jenniffer B. Austria per kWh due to lower fuel prices and the peso’s appreciation which affected around 26 percent of PSA charges that are dollar-denominated.

The reductions in WESM and PSA charges offset a slight P0.0853 per kWh increase in charges from independent power producers, due to lower average IPP dispatch as several units of First Gas-Sta Rita and First Gas-San Lorenzo underwent scheduled outage during the July supply month.