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The government missed all of its fiscal targets last year, despite the glowing claims of the Aquino administration on “fiscal space” resulting from its “prudent management” of the government’s finances. 

By Riza Lozada  The country will eventually be using equal amounts of renewable energy, natural gas and coal by 2030, according to an energy-diversification plan of the Department of Energy (DOE). 

By Luis Leoncio The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the country’s largest trade group, has lauded the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent decision not to amend its Securities Regulation Code (SRC) 68 on existing regulations in accepting audited financial statements.

By Riza Lozada The backlash of the cyber heist on Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), where the $81 million stolen from Bangladesh’s central bank was believed to have been deposited, has badly hurt the share prices of the local bank, prompting its owners to shore up its stock.

By Jerry Maglunog and Luis Leoncio  Alarm bells have sounded in the local banking sector over the money-laundering scandal involving the $81-million hacked from the deposits of the Bank of Bangadesh in New York and channeled into local banks and casinos. 

The Philippines continues to waste its huge labor power that is the envy of other developing countries by not producing enough jobs, despite the stellar growth of its economy over the past few years, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has noted in a periodic review. Government attention has been called to this phenomenon several times by University of the Philippines …

By Riza Lozada  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has turned down a petition of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) for an exemption on ownership limits on financial markets in its planned merger with the Philippine Dealing Systems Holdings Corp (PDS), effectively putting in limbo the consolidation of the local equities and fixed-income or bond market. 

By Luis Leoncio Whoever wins as president in next month’s elections, investors face “some uncertainty” on the country, according to the United Kingdom-based political risk analysis firm Global Risks Insight (GRI). 

By Luis Leoncio  Perceptions of pervasive corruption continue to haunt the Philippines in the international community, which is why the business community in Australia is reported to have felt generally relieved that the planned telecommunications venture between local conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Australian giant Telstra has been aborted. 

By Lito U. Gagni As the hearings in the Senate wound up last week, with a pivotal closed-door session that the key player, Maia Santos Dequito, head of the Jupiter branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., sought and which the Senate probers grudgingly granted, several questions deemed crucial to unravelling the mess that brought down Bangladesh’s central bank head remained …