Archive for the ‘Finance’ Category

Des Ferriols
Philippine Star
The national inflation rate slid back to single-digit levels earlier than expected, dropping to 9.9 percent in November from 11.2 percent in October as prices of basic commodities fell in the wake of weakening oil prices.
“This is a pleasant surprise,” said central bank governor Amando Tetangco, adding that inflation was dropping faster than [...]

CNET News
With the calendar winding down, the hours get hardest when Andy Erickson and his wife, Andrea, are forced to take out their checkbook and do the math.
“We see the finish line in December before we have to dive into personal savings,” says the unemployed 39-year-old father of three. “It can turn into a tense [...]

Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has unveiled a “payback package” for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who have been retrenched as a result of the global financial crisis, even as she belittled the layoffs as a “trickle” of the entire OFW population.
On Friday, Arroyo distributed PhilHealth insurance, certificates for skills training, and referral letters [...]

Erica Ogg
cnet News
Analysts are readjusting their expectations for the PC industry next year, and it’s not looking good.
On Wednesday, IDC released an updated forecast for the number of PCs expected to be shipped next year. In 2009, PC shipments will rise just 3.8 percent worldwide, according to the report.
That’s a drastic cut from the 13.7 [...]

Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
MANDALUYONG CITY, Philippines – Philippine-based outsourcing giants are now feeling effects of the US recession with some companies seeing a slowdown in demand for services, particularly on medical transcription and animation, industry executives said.
But some are reporting a surge in demand in contact center services, back office operations, software development and gaming.
Nevertheless, the local [...]

William French
Agence France-Presse

GENEVA, Switzerland — Illegal immigration is likely to rise as the economic crisis continues and governments must do more to effectively manage the flow of labor, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday.
“In times of financial crisis, a growth in irregular migration is obviously a significant possibility,” said Ryszard Cholewinski, co-editor of [...]

Rob Lever
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON, United States — The United States officially joined the ranks of the recession-hit economies, but debate is still raging on how long and how deep the downturn will be.
The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the panel recognized as the official arbiter of business cycles, said [...]

Aurelio O. Angeles
Philippine Daily Inquirer
(Conclusion)
WHAT DOES it mean to the people of the United States when their economy’s current account has been on deficit not just for a year, but for 31 years?
Here are thoughts that will blow your mind.
Deficits and the American people
First, remember my statement earlier, “people make up the economy, and economics [...]

Cielito Habito
Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE THIRD QUARTER GDP growth figures are out, and the numbers are as everyone expected. The economy has slowed down in the face of the shocks from abroad, and what kept it from slowing down as much as most of our neighbors did was the deliberate pumping up of government spending to [...]

Iris C. Gonzales
Philippine Star
Dividends remitted by state-run firms to the National Government (NG) declined to P5.41 billion from January to October this year, a P3.46 billion decline from the P8.87 billion recorded in the same period last year, latest data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed.
Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul Jr., however, stressed that last [...]