The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has provided banks with elbowroom in financing priority projects with its directive excluding loans guaranteed by Multilateral Financial Institutions (MFIs) from the loan cap to subsidiaries and affiliates.

State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) recently granted a P78-million term loan to UGEP Solar 1 Inc. (UGEP Solar) to finance the construction and installation of two photovoltaic rooftop solar power projects with a combined output of 2.1 megawatt peak (MWp).

United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB ) lent a hand to Operation Smile Philippines Foundation Inc. in providing free surgeries for 150 children with cleft lip and cleft palate in a mission to held at the Metro Davao Medical and Research Center last November 20 to 24.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) posted P17.7 billion in excise tax collections from so-called sin products in last September, up 12 percent from P16.67 billion a year ago.

A PayPal research showed digital payments is having a big impact on improving the financial situation of local consumers and businesses.

International experts identify inadequate physical facilities, cumbersome procedures, and varying international business standards as major stumbling blocks in sustaining the free flow of goods in Asean countries.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) undergraduate students have found that, by exposing plastic flakes to small, harmless doses of gamma radiation, then pulverizing the flakes into a fine powder, they can mix the plastic with cement paste to produce concrete that is up to 20 percent stronger than conventional concrete.

As we write this piece, the Commission on Audit (COA) has called for an investigation of several state agencies including the Department of Budget and Management over alleged irregularities in the disbursement of some P36 billion in royalties from the Malampaya gas fields in the Province of Palawan.

Letters from Davao  By: Jun Ledesma Newly-appointed Palace spokesperson Harry Roque warned dyed-in-the wall Duterte bashers not to try their luck too far saying “for every stone that the critics throw at the President he will throw back hollow blocks”.

Chito Narvasa is still the PBA commissioner… for now.