MANILA, Philippines — The peso exchange rate stands at P42.60 to the US dollar, the closing rate last Friday at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx). The weighted average rate stands at P42.731.

B.S.P. Approves New Reserve Rules

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved in principle the changes to rules covering banks reserve requirement, Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said.

The monetary authority approved unifying reserves classification, “non-renumeration” and exclusion of cash in vaults in computing reserves, Guinigundo said. “Implementation will take several weeks from the time of announcement to be done shortly,” he said. (Bloomberg)

Inflation Seen Lower in January

Inflation in the Philippines likely decelerated in January from the previous month because of lower utility charges, and as companies reduced prices to clear out stock for the new year.

The median forecast of 11 economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires is for the consumer price index, the country's main inflation barometer, to have risen 3.9% from a year earlier, slowing from a 4.2% rise in December. Inflation was at 4.1% in January of 2011.

"January is usually a slow month when it comes to inflation as this is the time of the year when excess inventories are sold at a discount," noted Emilio Neri, an economist with the Bank of the Philippine Islands. (Dow Jones)

GMA Claims Jan. Ratings Lead

GMA Network, Inc. reported that it won the most number of Filipino urban television households nationwide last January, according to data of ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

Based on household data recorded during the entire month (January 22 to 31 based on overnight readings), GMA had 36.7 average household audience share points, higher by 7.7 points than ABS-CBN’s 29 points; and 21.5 points over TV5’s 15.2 points.

Using an estimate of five viewers per household, GMA had 1.4 million more viewers over ABS-CBN and 3.9 million more viewers over TV5 from all over the country this January.(JAL)

Spanish Tile Firm Opening Outlet

The world-renowned Spanish ceramics and tiling company, Porcelanosa is set to launch its flagship showroom at the Infinity Tower in Bonifacio Global City by the first quarter of 2012.

The Philippine Embassy in Madrid has announced recently that an agreement with the Porcelanosa Group was signed authorizing Casa Europa, Inc. of the Philippines to exclusively represent the eight companies under the Porcelanosa Grupo umbrella.