You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!

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Showing posts with label Chino S. Leyco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chino S. Leyco. Show all posts

Friday, May 5, 2023

Inflation slows down further in April


Consumer prices ease to 6.6%


Inflation slowed down further to 6.6 percent in April from 7.6 percent in the previous month, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Friday, May 5.

Last month's inflation settled within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' forecast of 6.3 percent to 7.1 percent, but still higher than the 4.6 percent in April 2022.

April inflation rate brought the coutry's four-month average to 7.9 percent, still above the government's revised full-year outlook of 5.0 percent to 7.0 percent.

The end-April average is also well above 

Monday, March 20, 2023

NEDA okays new rules on foreign ownership

Foreigners can now fully-own key public services


AT A GLANCE

  • The National Economic and Development Authority releases the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 11659 or the Amendments to the Public Service Act (PSA) on March 20, 2023.
  • NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan says the IRR has undergone extensive review and consultations with the public, legislators, relevant administrative agencies, and other key stakeholders.

  • Upon its effectivity on April 4, 2023, foreigners will be allowed fully-own select industries in the country such as airports, railways, expressways, and telecommunications. 
  • Balisacan says the PSA amendments would attract more foreign investments to the country, boost market competitiveness, foster innovation, and create high-quality jobs.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has released the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the amended Public Service Act (PSA) that allows full foreign ownership of some Philippine businesses.

In a statement Monday, March 20, NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan assured that the IRR has undergone extensive review and consultations with the public, legislators, relevant administrative agencies, and other key stakeholders.

Belisacan also said all 21 government agencies, including NEDA, approved the IRR of the amended PSA, which will become effective on April 4, 2023.

“With the IRR already in place, we see this as a landmark reform that will further improve the country’s position as an ideal investment hub, which will help enhance employment opportunities and allow more Filipinos to benefit from more improved goods and services,” Balisacan said.

Upon its effectivity, the amendments to the PSA shall enable the liberalization of key public services by allowing full foreign ownership of businesses in select industries such as airports, railways, expressways, and telecommunications.

Prior to the approval of the amendments, foreign ownership in the aforementioned industries was limited to 40 percent.

Meanwhile, public service utilities such as electricity transmission and distribution, water and wastewater pipeline distribution system including sewerage, petroleum and petroleum products pipeline transmission systems, seaports, and public utility vehicles remain subject to the 60:40 foreign equity limitation.

Accordingly, the amendments also provide safeguard provisions to protect the country against national security concerns that may arise through any proposed merger or acquisition, or any investment in a public service.

“The PSA amendments form a critical part of our endeavor to attract foreign investments to the country to boost market competitiveness, foster innovation, and create high-quality jobs,” Balisacan said.

Further, relevant administrative agencies may issue guidelines and circulars for the effective implementation of RA No. 11659 and its IRR, provided that these remain consistent with Commonwealth Act No. 146 as amended, as well as with RA No. 11659 and its IRR.

“Together with complementary policies and measures… we are confident that the Philippines will be able to attract much-needed capital and technology, sustain its high-growth trajectory, and generate high-quality jobs enabling rapid poverty reduction in the next six years,” Belisacan said.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Jobless rate falls to new record-low since pandemic


by Chino S. Leyco

The country’s unemployment rate fell to 5 percent in September this year, a new record low after the full reopening of the economy since the pandemic.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday, Nov. 8, that the local labor market sustained its positive momentum with unemployment rate falling to five percent from 5.3 percent unemployment rate in August this year and 8.9 percent in September last year. 

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said this translates to 2.5 million jobless Filipinos in September or 183,000 lower than the the 2.68 million with no jobs in the previous month. Balisacan also noted that the jobless level was largely at par with major Asian economies and is even lower compared to that of India, Indonesia, and China.

With the resumption of economic activities, an additional 2.2 million Filipinos joined the workforce, raising the country’s labor force participation rate to 65.2 percent in September from 63.3 percent year-on-year. 

With the decline in unemployment, employment rate improved to 95 percent, the highest recorded rate since January 2020.

The significant de-escalation of community quarantine restrictions translates to an employment creation of four million year-on-year, bringing the total employment to 47.6 million during the month.

“The recent survey results show the gains of the full reopening of our economy,” Balisacan said. 

“The government will leverage on this momentum by strengthening policy interventions and investing in innovation and technology systems geared toward generating higher-quality employment that provides adequate income for Filipino workers and their families,” he added.

Employment growth was observed across all sectors with the services sector accounting for 2.8 million more employed individuals, followed by the industry and agriculture sectors that registered an additional 682,000 and 461,000 additional employment, respectively.

However, the underemployment rate worsened to 15.4 percent from 14.2 percent in September, as more than 882,000 individuals sought to earn additional income with the spike in commodity prices due to inflation.

“Ensuring food security remains as our top priority. In the immediate term, government is providing targeted cash transfer as well as fuel and crop subsidies to help protect the purchasing power of Filipinos and reduce the incidence of invisible underemployment among low-income households,” Balisacan said.

In addition, Balisacan highlighted the need for effective implementation of emergency employment programs and other forms of assistance to immediately assist those who were hard-hit by the calamities.

“As we are expecting La Niña and near to above-normal rainfall conditions in the coming months, we need to boost our disaster resilience and climate adaptation measures,” he said.


Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Climate risks pose ‘significant threat’ to PH growth


by Chino S. Leyco

Climate change poses a significant threat to the country’s development that would potentially result in higher economic and human costs particularly for the poor, the World Bank said. 

Souleymane Coulibaly, World Bank lead economist said climate shocks would negatively affect the country’s economic growth by eroding natural and physical capital, as well as reducing labor productivity.

Coulibaly also said that the effects of climate change would weaken the country’s financial stability, alter domestic and external competitiveness and strain government finances. 

Ultimately, climate shocks would drag down the government’s poverty reduction effort, whose metrics mainly depend on economic growth and income distribution, Coulibaly noted.

Based on the World Bank estimates, the average output losses of the Philippines due to climate change will be at 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 and could further rise to 5.7 percent by 2040.

Under the much worse scenario, the World Bank estimated that the costs of climate shocks could amount to 7.6 percent by 2030 and 13.6 percent by 2040. 

The World Bank estimates were derived using the country’s historical typhoon information.

“As illustrated by this figure, you can see the poor would suffer the most. The poorer the households, the more negatively the consumption is estimated to be affected by climate change,” Coulibaly said.

According to the World Bank economist, if no measures is taken to address climate change, the poverty rate will increase by nearly one percentage point by 2040, economic insecurity by 3.3 percentage points and inequality by 0.3 percentage point.

The financial sector will also be affected for a one percentage rise in the typhoon damage ratio, and the non performing loan ratio rising by an average of 0.66 percent in the same period, Coulibaly said.

“This is this significantly increases in your credit risks,” he said.

However, the good news is that adaptation actions can reduce the impact of climate change.

“Measures to adapt to climate change could reduce economic losses by around two-thirds,” Coulibay said. “The cost of climate adaptation is substantial, but easily outweighed by the economic benefits of reduced climate change.”

World Bank estimated that the cost of making vulnerable new infrastructure in the Philippines climate resilience is estimated to be about 0.6 percent of GDP annually.

Whilethe agriculture sector measures to boost climate resilience would cost the government about 0.06 percent of GDP per year.

“However, depending on the financing mechanism of adaptation investment, short run GDP could be boosted by 0.7 percent compared to the baseline without investment,” he added.  

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

World Bank raises PH growth outlook

by Chino S. Leyco, Manila Bulletin

The World Bank raised its economic growth outlook for the Philippines despite the damage from the Typhoon Karding onslaught, which the government said would not take the country off track of its full-year goal.

In the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific October 2022 Economic Update, the Washington-based multilateral institution raised its gross domestic product (GDP) outlook for the Philippine to 6.5 percent.

The latest growth estimate was well above the 5.7 percent forecast previously released in April.

“A relaxation of border closures and the related recovery in tourism activity is expected to boost growth,” World Bank said in the report on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

“Output in Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels of output in 2022,” the bank added.

World Bank’s new GDP projection, however, is at the lower-end of President Marcos’ full-year target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent, but aligned with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) downward revised forecast.

On Monday, the IMF cut the Philippine growth projection for this year to 6.5 percent from the previous of 6.7 percent in July.

But despite conservative protections of the World Bank and IMF, the National Economic and Development Authority is confident that the country could weather the impact of the recent typhoon that struck the country.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent economic growth target for 2022 is achievable.

“We are thankful Karding (Noru), which whipped on the belly of the Philippine economy (Luzon’s landmass), was not Ondoy, Ulysses, or Yolanda,” Balisacan twitted on Tuesday.

“Still, damage appeared considerable, though not likely at a level that would make us kiss goodbye to our growth target for this year,” he added.

The economy grew by 7.8 percent in the first half, faster than the target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee, an inter-agency body that is tasked to set the country’s macroeconomic assumptions.

Based on initial estimates of the Department of Agriculture, damage and losses to the farm sector caused by Typhoon Karding were estimated at P141.38 million.

The initial assessment covers 16,229 hectares of land in the Cordillera Administrative Region, the Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon, as of 12 noon on Monday, Sept. 26.

This translates to a volume of production loss of 5,866 metric tons of farm produce such as rice, corn, and high value crops, affecting 740 farmers.