FRIDAY: JUNE 24, 2016
B4
BUSINESS business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com
BSP keeps interest rates steady IN BRIEF Tax collection rises 11% THE Bureau of Internal Revenue said Thursday tax collection increased 11 percent in the first five months to P659.96 billion from P596.31 billion a year ago, but fell short of the target for the period. BIR said in a statement tax collections in the January-May period were 20.9-percent below the P833.937-billion target. BIR said in May alone, tax collections grew 18.4 percent to P152.14 billion from a year earlier, but fell 22.4 percent short of the P196.098-billion target for the month. Data showed that collections from BIR operations rose 11 percent in the first five months to P644.47 billion, while collections from non-BIR operations declined 3.9 percent to P15.49 billion. BIR has a target to collect P2.025 trillion worth of taxes in 2016. Gabrielle H Binaday
Circular on renewables THE Energy Department issued a draft circular requiring electric power companies to source at least 1 percent of their annual energy demand from renewable energy resources for the next 10 years. It said the draft circular on renewable energy portfolio standards or RPS was being adopted to contribute to the growth of the renewable energy industry by diversifying energy supply. It said the draft circular was subject to further comments from the industry. RPS refers to a market-based policy that mandates participating companies to source an agreed portion of energy supply from eligible RE resources. The department said the rules, once effective, should be implemented across three power grids provided that the department issued separate rules for the operationalization of the RPS in Mindanao until the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market was implemented in the said region. The industry participants required to source not less than one percent of annual demand from renewable energy include distribution utilities, retail electricity suppliers, generating companies, distributors within the economic zones and other entities approved by the department. Alena Mae S. Flores
By Julito G. Rada
THE Monetary Board, the policy-making body of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, kept the benchmark interest rates steady on Thursday, amid a manageable inflation environment and robust economic growth. Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said in a news briefing the interest rates were maintained at 3.5 percent for overnight lending, 3 percent for overnight borrowing and 2.5 percent for overnight deposits. The reserve requirement ratios were also left untouched. “The Monetary Board’s decision is based on its assessment that the inflation environment continues to be manageable.
Latest forecasts showed that average inflation is likely to settle near the lower edge of the 2 to 4 percent target range in 2016 and rise toward the mid-point of the target range in 2017 and 2018,” Espenilla said. Espenilla said with global oil prices recovering, the risk of second-round effects from lower oil prices would likely recede in the period ahead. “Nevertheless, slower global economic activity remains a key downside risk to the inflation outlook. Given improved rainfall conditions and the shift to neutral weather conditions in the May to July period, the upside risks to food and utility prices due to El Nino are also seen to recede in the coming months,” Espenilla said. He said domestic economic activity remained firm, backed by solid private household consumption and investment, buoyant business and consumer sentiment and sufficient credit and domestic liquidity. The board’s move Thursday was the first time it maintained the adjusted interest rates under the interest rate corridor which
Growth fails to uplift poor
New ecozone enterprise.
INCOMING Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said Thursday he will ask the Philippine Statistics Authority to have more economic metrics measuring the impact of growth on the lives of Filipino people. Pernia, who was tapped by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte as the director-general of the National Economic Development Authority, cited the need for metrics on how economic growth was distributed to different income groups and across regions. “I will have to ask the Philippine Statistics Authority to have new metrics. We see the need for innovative statistics that will explain why we have high GDP growth when it is not trickling down [to the masses],” Pernia said during a joint meeting between Makati Business Club and Philippine-US Business Council at Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City. He said the blue economy, referring to the Philippine marine ecosystem, also deserved to have separate statistics that would give guidance on how the economy should be managed in connection with poverty-alleviating measures. The blue economy or water-based economy could be larger than land-based economy in terms of opportunities for growth, as the former accounts for about 70 percent of the entire Philippine territory, he said. Othel V. Campos
Arch Global Services Inc. president Petronila Hartman (left) receives a registration agreement from Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Lilia de Lima (center) as an ecozone information technology enterprise to provide global information, technology/business process outsourcing and back office operations support services including information technology related services at Eaton Centris. With them is Mark Daniel Morales of Arch Global Services.
Metrobank to raise P20b METROPOLITAN Bank & Trust Co., the country’s secondlargest lender, said it plans to issue long-term negotiable certificates of deposits worth P20 billion. Metrobank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board of directors approved Thursday the planned issuance of up to P20 billion in one or more tranches. The bank said the LTNCDs would be issued “at P10 [billion] to P20 billion per tranche, and a tenor of 5.5 up to 10 years, subject to market conditions.” “The president of Metrobank has been granted authority to appoint the arranger/s and required third parties for the issue, with authority to approve the pertinent details, including the timing of the launch, issue size, tenor, interest rate and denomination,” the bank said. Other features of the LTNCD are tax exemption on interest income for individual investors if held for at least five years; quarterly interest payments; deposit insurance coverage with the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. up to a maximum of P500,000 per depositor; and negotiability subject to market conditions. Metrobank expressed optimism that it could sustain growth this year as the economy was expected to remain robust which could boost its core businesses, particularly loans and deposits. Julito G. Rada
Ayala to sell P20-b bonds THE Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday approved the Ayala Corp.’s shelf registration of P20 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds. Documents filed with SEC showed Ayala Corp. would initially issue P10 billion seven-year bonds, while the remaining P10 billion would be placed under shelf registration, ready for issuance within the next three years. Ayala hired BDO Capital & Investments Corp. as the issue manager for the fund raising activity. Other lead underwriters are BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp. and First Metro Investments Corp. Proceeds will be used to refinance the group’s P10-billion bonds maturing in April 2017. Ayala Corp., which has major investments in real estate, banking and telecommunications sectors, expects most of its business units to continue growing at a healthy pace in 2016. The conglomerate said it would continue to strengthen its growing portfolio of power and infrastructure investments. Jenniffer B. Austria
Govt debt papers at P3.8t GOVERNMENT’S outstanding debt papers slightly went down to P3.796 trillion as of end-May from P3.81 trillion a year ago, Treasury data show. Data showed bulk of the debt issuances in 2015 were Treasury bonds amounting to P3.515 trillion, while Treasury bills stood at P281.4 billion. Outstanding debt papers maturing in the next three and five years amounted to P50.76 billion and P251.398 billion, respectively. Longer tenor papers such as the seven- and 10- year debt facilities reached P544.127 billion and P362.632 billion, respectively. Bonds with 20 years of maturity stood at P298.32 billion while 25-year debt papers amounted to P235.98 billion. Domestic debt papers, normally bought by banks during regular auctions, are used to finance the budget deficit and provide investment instruments in the financial system. Gabrielle H. Binaday
started June 3. The Monetary Board reduced the inflation forecast this year to 2 percent from an earlier estimate of 2.1 percent, but kept the forecast of 3.1 percent for 2017. The inflation forecast for 2018 was 2.6 percent. Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the slight adjustment in the 2016 inflation forecast stemmed from the lower minimum wage adjustment of P10 in June compared to the planned P27 for July 2016. Inflation in the first five months averaged 1.2 percent, below the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent. The gross domestic product grew 6.9 percent in the first quarter, faster than 5 percent a year ago. Experts expect GDP growth to accelerate further in the second quarter. Guinigundo downplayed any huge impact on the domestic market of the possible exit of Great Britain from the European Union, saying the Philippines’ solid macroeconomic fundamentals would make foreign investors think twice before leaving the country.
Fighting fakes THE best way to spot fakes is not by studying the counterfeits but by learning everything about the real thing until you practically start dreaming about it. Or at least that’s what some of our buddies say when we asked them how to spot fakes. Of course, these falsies are everywhere – from medicines to perfumes to bags to cellphones and even laundry soap. A psychologist said that some people buy fake products unknowingly, but there are a lot more who purchase products willingly despite knowing that these are counterfeit for so many reasons. They want the prestige attached to owning a branded item without having to pay an arm and a leg, or they couldn’t care less that they are breaking the law. And then there are those who think they are putting one over big business when they buy fakes that are priced far below the original products. The recent statement of Alibaba founder Jack Ma (yup, the guy who shared the spotlight with our very own Aisa Mijeno and US President Barack Obama during
the recent Apec Summit) that fake goods sometimes (or often) turn out to be better than the original has opened a floodgate of controversy, particularly from US and European manufacturers who are oftentimes the victims of fake good manufacturers mostly coming from China. While Alibaba does not directly sell products, it’s the one that facilitates purchases through its online platform. Critics of Ma and Alibaba have complained that the online site has become a breeding ground for counterfeit products because it makes it easy for people to buy knockoff goods. Alibaba’s core, Taobao, handles more than 90 percent of the local consumer-to-consumer market in China while the Tmall platform covers more than 50 percent of consumer-to-consumer transactions. Following his “controversial statement,” Ma has since clarified that Alibaba has “zero tolerance” for fakes. “Failing to protect original designs, trademarks and technology is akin to thievery, and it is detrimental not only to innovation but also to the integrity of the marketplace,” the Alibaba founder stated. “We do not and will never condone any act of stealing,” he reiterated, but this has been received with a lot of skepticism. Estimates place the amount of fake trade at a quarter of a trillion pounds according to a recent study from the UK.
It would appear that piracy as an industry has increased a lot in just a decade, with fake goods now estimated to make up 2.5 percent of all international trade, up from 1.9 percent in 2005 – and these do not even include figures from file sharing and illegal downloads. In the Philippines, the problem of fakes is also getting a lot of attention, so much so that the Homeland Security Agency has seen fit to conduct a workshop for the NBI and the PNP on how to enforce action against intellectual property violators and most importantly, how they can successfully prosecute violators. Undoubtedly, law enforcement plays a major role in curbing the proliferation of fakes – from investigation to apprehension down to successful prosecution. According to reports, China is the biggest source of fake goods with 63 percent of apprehended items traced back to manufacturers from China. But then again, the business of fakes wouldn’t really grow this big if people didn’t patronize these products knowingly. For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns, readers may email to happyhourtoday2012@ yahoo.com. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https://www.facebook. com/happyhourmanilastandard. We’d be very happy to hear from you. Cheers!