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Stock-market
info. The
Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) electronic broad undergoes
test runs before it officially goes “on” this month. The
P45-million project measures 30 meters in length and 1.5
meters in height. Mounted on the façade of the iconic
Insular Life building at the corner of Ayala Avenue and
Paseo de Roxas in the heart of the country’s business and
financial district, the display will run the PSE ticker
tape, disclosures and other relevant stock-market
information. --ROY
DOMINGO |
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NFA
deficit seen P7B over forecast |
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THE
government is nurturing a new problematic agency in the
National Food Authority (NFA) by giving it billions of pesos
in subsidies every year.
According to
Sen. Edgardo Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on
Agriculture, the NFA has the makings of a new Napocor, or
the National Power Corp., whose multibillion-dollar debts
constituted the single-biggest expense item on the nation’s
budget for many years. |
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April inflation likely to reach 7%, says BSP |
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THE Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) projects inflation to average
still higher in April to around 7 percent, significantly
higher than the month-ago average of only 6.4 percent.
The
forecast was in recognition of higher oil and nonoil
commodity prices for the period marked by domestic, as well
as global, rice-supply stresses and the impact of the
power-rate adjustment. |
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Business groups push grant of nonwage relief measures |
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THE
businessmen’s call for the grant of nonwage benefits instead
of a wage hike continues to snowball as domestic
manufacturers vowed to even volunteer in giving their
workers several kinds of nonwage relief during these
abnormal times.
Jesus
Arranza, president of the Federation of Philippine
Industries (FPI), said basing wage increases on the current
food crisis and increasing prices is a mistake that
employers will have to bear even after the situation has
stabilized. |
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State workers to get 10% pay hike |
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THERE may be
no wage-hike announcement for minimum-wage earners on Labor
Day, but President Arroyo is expected to announce today an
executive order granting a 10-percent salary hike for state
workers effective July.
Executive
Secretary Eduardo Ermita confirmed to reporters on Wednesday
that the EO is ready for the President’s signature upon her
arrival that day from Cagayan de Oro, the final leg of her
Central Nautical Highway caravan that started in Bulan,
Sorsogon. |
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Supply fears ease; rice price at 2-week low |
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RICE futures
fell to a two-week low after US planting accelerated and
some Asian producers cracked down on speculative hoarding of
the grain, easing concern about a global food crisis.
Farmers in
the
US,
the world’s third-largest exporter, planted 44 percent of
their rice crop as of April 27, up from 26 percent a week
earlier, the government said. Thailand announced on Tuesday
it was releasing 2.1 million metric tons of rice from state
stockpiles, while Vietnam banned speculators from its
domestic market this week. |
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PNB
will be 4th-largest after buying 100% of Allied Bank |
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THE
Philippine National Bank (PNB) is buying 100 percent of
Allied Bank for P25.3 billion in a merger transaction seen
completed by the third quarter this year.
PNB
president Omar Byron Mier told a press conference Wednesday
the lender would issue 457 million new shares to execute a
share swap and complete the transaction. |
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MORE STORIES ... |
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ALLIED Banking
Corp. president Reynaldo Maclang (left) shakes hands with
Philippine National Bank president and CEO Omar Byron Mier
after a press conference announcing the final broad strokes
of the merger of the two financial institutions, both
majority owned by Lucio Tan.
--NONIE REYES |
