The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

By Luis Leoncio Unknown to many, there is a large and heavy price tag attached to the proposed emergency powers for President Duterte to solve the costly gridlock bedeviling the country.

Consumers have become optimists since President Duterte assumed office, after long bout with pessimism, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey conducted from July 1 to 12 showed. 

Economic indicators belie the claims of a downturn in business confidence as the twin impact of President Duterte’s brash remarks on US President Barack Obama prior to last week’s Asean summit in Laos and his issuance of Proclamation 55 imposing a state of national emergency in the aftermath of the Davao City bombing that killed 14 people.

Bribery and corruption remain pervasive in the Philippines and were cited by local companies as the “top economic crime” that they encountered in the past 24 months, a survey of the global auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) showed.

By Riza Lozada The country’s economic managers are considering a revamp of the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) program to jumpstart an infrastructure buildup that the Duterte administration believes to be the key to sustaining economic growth.

By Riza Lozada The rules for the setting up of microfinance non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been released that, among other things, will provide such financing firms a low 2-percent preferential tax.

Enhancing the quality of locally manufactured electronic products is the target of an industry group to ramp up exports receipts of the country.

The Lopez group’s First Gen Corp. (First Gen) will start commercial operation of the 100-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired power plant San Gabriel Avion in Batangas City.

Small-scale farming—which is mainly for a family’s sustenance, plus a little income from agricultural produce—does not get the same attention as commercial farming, but it has the best potential to eradicate hunger in the majority of Filipino families.

The Board of Investments (BOI) has signed a memorandum of agreement with local companies for the demonstration of the P550 million e-vehicles project of Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).