The Philippine government cut its 2008 economic-growth forecast today for the second time this year as faster inflation hurt consumption, adding pressure on the government to boost spending on food and fuel subsidies to the poor. Gross domestic product is now expected to expand between 5.5 percent to 6.4 percent this year, down from an earlier forecast of as much as 6.6 percent, according to Economic Planning Undersecretary Augusto Santos. Philippine stocks and the peso fell on concern the government may expand subsidies for the third of the 96 million population that lives on less than a $1 a day, widening the fiscal deficit.President Gloria Arroyo in May pledged to boost investment and lift spending on rice and other subsidies to help Filipinos cope with soaring prices, abandoning her plan to balance the budget this year. Finance Secretary Gary Teves has said the government may ...

Philippine export growth accelerated to a four-month high in June as a weaker peso made the country's disk drives and mobile-phone chips cheaper and shipments to China countered weakening demand from the U.S. Shipments abroad rose 8.3 percent from a year earlier to $4.49 billion, compared with a 2.3 percent gain in May, according to preliminary figures released by the National Statistics Office in Manila today.The peso, last year's best performer in the region, fell for a fourth month in June, boosting the foreign-currency earnings of exporters.Overseas sales account for about two-fifths of the Philippines' $118 billion economy, which grew at the slowest pace in six quarters in the first three months of the year. Sales of electronics, which make up two-thirds of the Philippines' total exports, climbed 6.4 percent from a year earlier to $2.63 billion.Philippine shipments to China rose 8.8 percent in ...

The Philippine annual inflation rate, as measured by consumer price index, continued to accelerate in July, hitting a near 17-year high of 12.2 percen. June inflation was 11.4 percent while inflation in July 2007 was only 2.6 percent, according to the latest data from the National Statistics Office. The July figure was the highest since December 1991. Higher annual inflation rates were registered in all the commodity groups except in the fuel, light and water index. The overall annual inflation rate for food alone further climbed to 18.6 percent in July from 17.4 percent in June. Higher year-on-year inflation was noted in rice at 50.0 percent in July up from 43.0 percent in June; corn, 40.6 percent from 34.3 percent; cereal preparations, 17.6 percent from 16.6 percent. But the National Statistics Office pointed out that the monthly ...

The Philippine central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by the most since 2000on 17 July and forecast inflation will exceed last month's 14-year high on record oil and food prices. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas increased the rate it pays banks for overnight deposits by 0.5 percentage point to 5.75 percent.Fuel prices in the Philippines have risen every week since April and rice costs have jumped 70 percent this year - the Philippines is the world's biggest importer of rice and buys almost all of its oil from abroad. Bangko Sentral increased its 2008 inflation estimate to a range of 9 percent to 11 percent today, from a previous prediction of 7 percent to 9 percent, citing a weak peso and higher food, transportation and energy costs. GDP growth probably accelerated to 5.6 percent in the ...

IndieMV Media Group, Inc. (OTCBB: IDMV) today announced that they will begin their Asian expansion by going through the Philippines as an entry point. This decision was primarily based on the fact that a newly appointed board member, Sherwin Lim, has already established numerous business contacts and social networks in the Philippines. The company intends to use these contacts and networks as an opportunity to capitalize on possible marketing opportunities within the Philippines, and later throughout much of Asia.

“With the Philippines being one of the fastest growing Internet and Mobile phone users in Southeast Asia, we feel strongly that using the Philippines as our entry point into the Asian marketplace would provide a stable and viable footing for our expansion into the rest of Asia,” Mr. Lim explained.

In a 2007 PricewaterhouseCoopers study, it was estimated that Asia’s digital music industry exceeded $4.2 billion. Internet users in China …

If you are looking for alternative energy oriented 'green' stocks, but you like high yields, you can actually find a combination of both. The following are a group of stocks involved in alternative energy in some way, such as wind power or solar energy or ethanol. They all pay dividends. PG&E Corp. (PCG) This California-based electric and gas utility serves 5 million customers. Their electrical generation comes from natural gas, nuclear, hydro, coal, geothermal, wind, and several other types of renewable sources. The P/E is 15 and the PEG is 1.91. The stock yields 4%. IdaCorp, Inc. (IDA) This holding company owns Idaho Power Company, which is involved in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric energy primarily in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Their electrical generation comes from hydroelectric, natural gas, diesel, coal, and geothermal plants. Geothermal is now considered a hot source energy. The P/E ...

Aaron Katsman IsraelNewsletter.com I posted yesterday about how a strengthening US Dollar could potentially benefit Israeli stocks that trade in the US. I was asked by some readers how come I think that the USD is poised for a rally? The answer…FIFO. FIFO is an accounting term that stands for ‘first in first out.’ With the global economy on the skids, the US was the first country to start having problems and with a vigilant Fed at the wheel, I think the US will return to normal growth in the next 6 months. After all, no recession occurred. The US has had no negative GDP growth quarters, and actually had a surprisingly good 0.9% GDP for Q1. Europe on the other hand, is just starting to show signs of a slowdown. I have heard analysts predicting a potential contraction of over 2% in European growth. That certainly ...

Roel Landingin and Javier Blas writing in the Financial Times:The Philippines failed to buy enough rice on Tuesday to boost its inventories and faced prices more than 40 per cent high­er than two months ago in the latest sign of a rapid tight­­ening of the global rice market.The failure underscores the risk that rice could be in short supply in south-east Asia countries, where the grain is a staple food. It also signals further food inflation pressures in the region, where consumer prices are rising quickly.The world’s largest rice exporters, including Vietnam, India and Egypt, have imposed foreign sales restrictions to keep their domestic markets well supplied, tightening further the global market. More curbs are likely in the coming months as the rice market faces strong demand and lagging supplies, the US Department of Agriculture has warned. Global rice stocks are set to ...

Philippine exports grew at the fastest pace since August 2006 in December as shipments to China increased. Shipments abroad gained 21.4 percent from Deecember 2006 to reach $4.48 billion, according to preliminary figures released by the National Statistics Office in Manila today. Exports fell 2.1 percent in November. Demand from China is supporting the Philippines and other Asian-exporting nations as shipments to the U.S. weaken. Exports account for about half of the Philippines $117 billion economy, which expanded at its fastest annual pace in 31 years in 2007. Shipments to China gained 12.8 percent in December from a year earlier to $515.15 million. They dropped 12.4 percent a month earlier. Exports to Hong Kong rose 65 percent to $488 million, accelerating from a 28 percent gain in November. Exports to the U.S., which is the Philippines' biggest market, grew by 7.7 ...

Philippine inflation in January was at its highest level in over a year, which is likely to spell the end of the central bank’s accommodative monetary policy stance, analysts said on Tuesday. Annual consumer price inflation hit 4.9 per cent in January, well above the central bank’s forecast range of 3.7-4.4 per cent and a rapid acceleration from 3.9 per cent in December as food and fuel prices climbed.Compared with December, prices rose 1.2 per cent in January, the biggest jump in more than three-and-a-half years. Amando Tetangco, the country’s central bank governor, told reporters that monetary policy would take into account the latest price developments.Only last week, the central bank cut its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to 5 per cent, its lowest level since May 1992, and signalled it had room for more easing by describing price pressures ...