Business NEWS

Bloomberry Cultural Foundation, Inc.(BCFI)  and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) have completed the country’s largest COVID-19 quarantine facility, the Solaire-PAGCOR Mega Quarantine Facility.

The national government’s debt soared by nearly half-a-trillion pesos last month amid the Duterte administration’s aggressive borrowings to fund the country’s coronavirus response, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

Banks’ foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) totaled $18 billion as of end-June, down by 1.7 percent or $303 million compared to the previous quarter’s $18.3 billion with principal payments still exceeding disbursements, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued another memo for banks and other lending institutions’ additional guidance and to clarify sections under the “Bayanihan To Recover As One” Act (BARO Act) on interbank loans and bank borrowings.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr)  fully awarded yesterday bids for treasury bills yesterday’s auction. The three- and six-month notes and one-year papers fetched average rates of 1.121 percent, 1.601 percent and 1.858 percent, respectively.

Smart Communications, Inc.  is rolling out its commercial 5G service to key cities in Visayas and Mindanao, becoming the first Philippine telco to launch 5G services nationwide.  

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is about to issue revised guidelines on virtual currency exchanges (VCEs) and electronic money issuers (EMIs) to plug the regulatory gaps of the existing virtual asset service providers (VASP) rules.

 Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) president and CEO Cezar P. Consing said the bank’s digitalization efforts is currently going through an upgrade to a version he calls “2.0” in anticipation of higher online and mobile-based banking services even post-COVID-19 period, and it will cut costs both for the bank and its clients. 

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III is throwing support behind the proposed measure seeking to digitalize all government agency services provided to the public.

Government borrowings breached the P2 trillion mark in August this year as the Duterte administration needed funds to bridge the gap between its dwindling revenues and required spending level amid the coronavirus-induced recession.            

Banks prefer Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) securities with short-term maturities of up to two months, according to its highest-ranking official.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said  that residential property prices increased by 27.1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the highest growth rate recorded by its Residential Real Estate Price Index (RREPI) since it started in 2016.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) remains confident that the country’s external debt numbers and ratios are still at prudent and at comfortable levels despite more borrowings in the past seven months for the COVID-19 pandemic war chest.

The local economy’s external exposure as net external liability position was better in the last quarter of 2019 at P1.7 trillion or 24 percent lower than P2.2 trillion in 2018, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in its first Philippine Balance Sheet Approach (BSA) report.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has urged the raffle winners of the small investor-targeted Premyo bonds to consider using their cash rewards to reinvest in government debt securities or start their own small businesses and help create jobs.

The central bank said it registered net foreign portfolio investment outflows of $127 million in August, an improvement compared to $453 million net outflows in July, in a COVID-19 affected fund flow environment.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported the country’s balance of payments (BOP) surplus of $4.774 billion for the January to August period, lower than same time last year of $5.529 billion.

The banking community reiterated Friday that as they were consulted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) before putting a limit on credit card rates and fees, they are supporting this move to “ease the burden” of cardholders amid the public health crisis.