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Imports drop 22.8% in June

MANILA - Philippine imports fell 22.8% in June from a year earlier, the slowest decline since October, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said on Tuesday, as economic activity continued to gain pace. Imports in June at $4.11 billion were also the highest for a single month since October. However, purchases of electronics parts, a key component in the country's export sector, were down 20.3% in June from a 12.3% fall in May. The Philippines clocked up a trade deficit of $701 million in Ju...

(UPDATE) RP to sell assets to keep deficit target

MANILA - The Philippines will have to sell assets to keep its budget deficit target this year, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said, after the fiscal gap ballooned in the first 7 months. The country's budget deficit hit P34.6 billion in July, bringing the fiscal shortfall for the first 7 months of the year to P188 billion, up 462.5% from last year's P33.4 billion. The July figure is higher than the P20.3 billion budget gap in June, and represents more than half of the government's P62.5 billi...

RP banks strong enough to withstand crisis' effects, Fitch says

Most Philippine banks are strong enough to withstand effects of the global downturn, international credit rating agency Fitch Ratings Ltd. said in a statement datelined Singapore. This explains why the New York and London-headquartered agency kept a stable outlook on most banks’ credit ratings, even with weak macroeconomic indicators, the agency added. “Banks’ loss absorption capacity would likely remain adequate and [their] financial strength largely intact," the ratings agency said. On th...

RP to balance budget by 2013

MANILA - The Philippine government now aims to wipe out the fiscal gap by 2013. On Friday, the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) announced that it will propose to Congress a P1.54 trillion budget for 2010. This will translate to a budget deficit of P233.4 billion or 2.8% of GDP, at the high end of earlier indications. "We are trying to bring ourselves back on track to having a balanced budget," Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya told Reuters. "We also want to avoid h...

Guess who's back in Manila… Sandara!

MANILA - Korean actress and former ABS-CBN talent Sandara Park is back in the Philippines on a short break, amid the phenomenal success of her all-female Korean pop group 2NE1. Park, now popularly called "Dara", arrived in the country on Thursday morning, August 13. She said she is here to see friends, family, and her fans. "Na-miss ko kayong lahat. Sobrang happy ako dahil nandito na ako ulit (sa Pilipinas)," Park told ABS-CBN News. Formerly known as the "Pamba...