The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

By Luis Leoncio Despite growing external risks and the troubling statements of President Duterte, the country’s “underlying growth story remains intact,” Bangko Sen­tral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said in a recent speech before the Tuesday Club of journalists at the Edsa Shangri-La.

After a bitter clash over the increase in the Social Security Sys­tem (SSS) pension, the legislature and the Palace are again pitted against each other over the proposal of the Department of Finance (DoF) for an increase in excise taxes on fuel as a measure to compensate for the proposed law to lower income and corporate taxes.

By Riza Lozada The government has lined up measures, including subsidizing electricity costs in economic zones, to address business concerns about the high cost of electricity in the country, particularly during the shutdown of the Malampaya natural-gas facility.

The Duterte administration’s plan to increase borrowings from the domestic debt market this year won’t crowd out medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs), Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

Majority or 86 per­cent of Filipino households re­main without a bank account or what it terms as “unbanked” despite efforts of local banks to spread their branches nationwide, the Consumer Finance Survey conducted from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas July 2014 to end-January 2015 showed.

Malaysia’s ef­forts to di­versify its e c o n omy and focus on high-end manufacturing and ser­vices are helping the country to realize its aim of becoming a global­ly competitive trading nation, Wan Latiff Wan Musa, Deputy CEO, Ma­laysia External Trade De­velopment Corp. (MA­TRADE) told Oxford Business Group’s online news portal, Global Plat­form.

The visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was all about strengthening friendship between the Philip­pines and Japan that was given deeper meaning during Abe’s itinerary in Davao City, home­town of President Duterte.

Former finance secretaries and heads of the National Eco­nomic Development Authority (Neda) strongly supported and pushed for the approval of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) bill, which seeks to legislate fiscal reforms that the Duterte administration had sought to achieve its vision of inclusive growth.

By Riza Lozada Better relations with China and the recov­ery of the country’s stainless industry, along with the production cutback in some nickel ore producing regions present an opportunity for the lo­cal nickel ore mining indus­try to cash in on improved nickel ore prices in the world markets this 2017, listed firm Nickel Asia Corp. said.

Robinsons Retail Hold­ings Inc.’s (RRHI) reported its net income increased by 11.1 percent to P3.3 billion for the first nine month of last year from P2.97 billion a year ago.