President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed hope Thursday night that before the end of her term, the mining investments in the country will reach $4 billion to $6 billion and these investments will come from the participants in the 6th Asia Pacific Mining Conference and Exhibition held in Malacañang, most of whom are foreign investors, chief operating officers of international companies and regional managers of firms with global operations.

The country’s balance of payments reached a surplus of $2.73 billion in the first eight months to September, the highest this year.

The World Bank has granted a $677,000 financial assistance to the Philippines to help prepare the second phase of the national program support for road improvement and management.

The procurement of the distribution utilities (DUs) of their power supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) has been proposed to increase gradually from 10-percent at its initial stage of operation and will gradually climb to 20 percent.

The peso rate closed higher at P55.83 to the US dollar yesterday at the Philippine Dealing System of the Bankers Association of the Philippines from P55.875 the previous day. The weighted average rate appreciated to P55.844 from P55.876. Total volume amounted to $262.3 million.

GENEVA, Oct. 14 (AFP) — WTO chief Pascal Lamy warned Thursday that further compromise was needed to reach an overall accord on global commerce, as a potential EU internal row threatened to complicate talks just two months ahead of a crucial ministerial meeting in Hong Kong.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The US-ASEAN Business Council announced that Martin J. Sullivan, President and CEO of American International Group, Inc. has been elected the Council’s new Chairman. Sullivan succeeds Charles Williamson, Chairman and CEO of Unocal Corporation, who has served as Chairman of the Council since 2002.

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia (AP) — Advertising executive Keith Reinhard has a message for US companies: America’s tarnished image may soon hurt your bottom lines.

SAN JOSE, California (AP) — Apple Computer Inc. introduced an iPod capable of playing videos, evolving the portable music player of choice into a multimedia platform for everything from TV shows to music videos.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s oil bill surged to a record in August and so did goods imported from China, pushing the US trade deficit to the third-highest level ever. And it is bound to get worse because hurricane-related increases for oil are still ahead.

The country’s electricity rates have no hope of going down in the near term if government policy-makers would not act fast and soon enough to address the problem currently plaguing the domestic electricity sector.

Consultative Commission (ConCom) member Emmanuel Y. Angeles yesterday said that the new Constitution that the ConCom members are currently crafting will contain provisions that are friendlier to both foreign and local investors.

Major players of the flourishing aquaculture industry in Central Luzon are coming together for the first time to make the region the biggest player in the market.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed concern on the delays in the bidding process for the transmission assets of the state-owned National Power Corporation (NPC).

Amid the mining euphoria hanging in the air, one of world’s biggest mining firms Anglo American of UK has yet to be convinced the local scene is up for a boom with uncertain policies (or insufficient resource) that may even prompt it to withdraw its Boyongan stake.

MANILA (PNA) — The Philippines is eyeing a wider niche in the business process outsourcing (BPO) market in the United States as it participates in the biggest outsourcing fair in New York to further attract foreign investors.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 14 (Reuters) — Asian currencies were a touch firmer on Friday as this week’s strong rise in the dollar came to a halt ahead of US economic numbers later in the session.

The trans fat labeling rule promulgated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 9, 2003 is already changing consumer demand and encouraging product reformulation in the US – as expected by the FDA. The trans fat labeling rule is a pronouncement by US-FDA on food labels as follows: That the trans fat content of food must be listed in the nutritional facts panel of conventional food products and some dietary food supplements by January 1, 2006.

Even as the Philippines is suffering from a "perception of risk," the government can still pursue where it has competitive edge in the areas of electronics, mining and services sectors to beef up its declining share of foreign direct investments, the International Finance Corp. (IFC) said.

Tiger Airways, the citystate’s budget fare airline, is beefing up its fleet to improve its operations and services in the region, including the former US airbase, Clark in Pampanga.

Amid the absence of significant developments and listless benchmark international markets, the main market gauge remained in a tight trading range for most of the week.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed hope Thursday night that before the end of her term, the mining investments in the country will reach $4 billion to $6 billion and these investments will come from the participants in the 6th Asia Pacific Mining Conference and Exhibition held in Malacañang, most of whom are foreign investors, chief operating officers of international companies and regional managers of firms with global operations.

The country’s balance of payments reached a surplus of $2.73 billion in the first eight months to September, the highest this year.

The World Bank has granted a $677,000 financial assistance to the Philippines to help prepare the second phase of the national program support for road improvement and management.

The procurement of the distribution utilities (DUs) of their power supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) has been proposed to increase gradually from 10-percent at its initial stage of operation and will gradually climb to 20 percent.

Cash sent home by migrant workers totaled $7 billion as of August, 28 percent higher over last year’s $5.47 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Friday.

The peso rate closed higher at P55.83 to the US dollar yesterday at the Philippine Dealing System of the Bankers Association of the Philippines from P55.875 the previous day. The weighted average rate appreciated to P55.844 from P55.876. Total volume amounted to $262.3 million.