Government-owned Social Security System (SSS) has reduced its 2017 budget for operating expenses (opex) by P1 billion as it seeks measures to improve its financial performance. 

The Industrial Guarantee and Loan Fund (IGLF), which the government uses to finance industrial projects and is managed by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), reported P4.5 billion in loans released to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) last year. 

An economist of Standard Chartered (Stanchart) forecasts tightening of domestic liquidity starting in the middle of 2017, thus, a possible cut in banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) to pump out liquidity. 

By Riza Lozada Uncertainties on policies that the US government will implement under US President Donald Trump and the dovish statement by Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen, led to mixed results for the Philippine peso and the local bourse.

The Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), listed International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s (ICTSI) flagship operation and the country’s largest, most technologically advanced container terminal, capped 2016 with a milestone as it reached its first year-to-date 2 million TEU moves last December.

Gross revenues of companies in the first nine months of last year grew by 6.8 percent, consistent with the growth in the economy of almost the same rate, a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report showed.

Conglomerate Phinma Corp started the year marking its 60th anniversary celebration by recognizing its employees last January 18 as part of a year-long celebration. The event entitled “Phinma honors its own” recognized men and women within Phinma, who on their own time, exemplified the company’s mission of making Filipino lives better. Tokens were given to employees including those who work …

By Riza Lozada Taiwan’s biggest lender to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), First Commercial Bank had started local operations to become the first foreign bank to set up a Philippine branch under Republic Act (RA) 10641 or the Act Liberalizing the Entry and Scope of Operations of Foreign Banks in the Philippines enacted in July 2014.

The government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Japanese government have signed a loan agreement to fund a five-year project that aims to jumpstart agribusiness investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other conflict-affected areas in the South as part of the recent state visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) started its budget preparation process for next year with a Budget Forum held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.