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For women
power. Goldman
Sachs chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein
announces his company’s program for “10,000 Women” in New
York. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world’s largest
investment bank, unveiled a plan Wednesday to spend $100
million to teach 10,000 women business and management
skills across the globe. The initiative specifically plans
to target women in the Middle East, Asia and Africa who
might have little or no opportunity to pursue such an
education. --AP |
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BSP
says ‘no’ to capital controls |
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BANGKO
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr.
ruled out Thursday the adoption of capital controls as tools
to curb sharp movements in the exchange rate and moderate
the strength of the peso.
He also
ruled out heavy BSP participation in the foreign-exchange
market to blunt the still-strengthening peso, saying such
would complicate monetary policy. |
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PIDS:
GDP lower at 5.9% in 2008 |
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THE absence
of election spending, the strong peso and the low investment
rate of the government as it strives to meet the target of
balancing the budget will most likely drag down the
country’s economic performance in 2008, according to
government think tank Philippine Institute for Development
Studies (PIDS). |
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Buffett is world’s richest person |
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NEW YORK—Berkshire
Hathaway Inc. chairman Warren Buffett beat out Bill Gates
for the top spot on Forbes magazine’s annual list of
billionaires worldwide, ending a 13-year reign for Microsoft
Corp.’s cofounder.
Buffett’s
wealth increased $10 billion to about $62 billion in the 12
months through February 11, mostly from a gain in his
company’s shares, Forbes said in a statement released late
Wednesday. |
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Cargo-handling rate to go up 5% by April |
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THE board of
the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has approved the
cargo-handling rate increase of the country’s two biggest
port operators in Manila as a result of the rising costs of
fuel and labor, among others.
According to
a PPA order released Tuesday, there will be a total rate
increase of 12 percent for all vessel-related foreign
container-handling services, but only 5 percent of it will
take effect on April 2, and the rest in 2009. |
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‘Crisis rice stockpile’ for Asean+3 |
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MEMBERS of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and
Japan, South Korea and China (Asean+3) are planning to make
permanent a rice-reserve program that seeks to stabilize the
price of rice in times of calamity and other emergency
situations in the region by next year. |
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RP
urged to plant cocoa as demand rises |
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A US-based
foundation promoting cocoa farming has asked the Philippine
government to encourage Filipino farmers to plant the crop
to help boost global supplies, a Bloomberg report said.
In a report
datelined Washington, D.C., the World Cocoa Foundation—whose
members include Nestlé SA, the world’s biggest food company,
and Hershey Co., the largest US chocolate maker—asked
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap “to plant cocoa in the
Southeast Asian nation to help boost global supply, allowing
consumers to diversify raw-material sources and helping
stabilize prices.” |
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What’s a BIS or VASP? Ask NSCB for guidance
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Recognizing
the need to update its data, the National Statistical
Coordination Board (NSCB) has approved the first batch of
official concepts and definitions for statistical purposes
for the information and communications technology (ICT)
sector to be adopted by all concerned government agencies. |
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MORE STORIES ... |
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No room at the
inn Physicians
and nurses tend to patients on the corridors of the JP Rizal
Medical Center, a government hospital, following a typhoid
outbreak in Calamba City. More than 1,400 people have
displayed typhoid symptoms in less than a month in the city
near the Philippine capital, prompting authorities to
declare a state of calamity, health officials said.
--AP |
