Trade officials and exporters in Metro Cebu, Metro Davao and Central Luzon have committed to achieve the $50-billion export target next year set in the three-year export plan.

A Korean shipbuilding company is keen on investing $1-billion shipbuilding facility in Subic that is expected to transform the country’s premier Freeport into one of the world’s fourth biggest shipbuilding facility.

After rigorous negotiations with Philippine government, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has finally given its consent to the sale of the 600-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired facility; but the transaction remains problematic as the winning bidder faces the toughest challenge of raising the required $223-million upfront payment to merit the turnover of the facility.

After rigorous negotiations with Philippine government, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has finally given its consent to the sale of the 600-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired facility; but the transaction remains problematic as the winning bidder faces the toughest challenge of raising the required $223-million upfront payment to merit the turnover of the facility.

The country’s strong base of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) is being eyed by Nokia, a telecom network provider, as the jump-off point for its latest mobile phone technology, 3G.

Barring any baffling technical glitch in the country’s power systems, the power utilities are here to assure that the Filipino people would be able to enjoy brownout-free holidays, in reference to the celebration of All Saints’ Day and Ramadan this week.

The peso rate closed at P54.94 to the US dollar last Friday at the Philippine Dealing System of the Bankers Association of the Philippines. The weighted average rate stands at P55.049. Financial markets will be closed on Monday, Tuesday and Friday next week for public holidays.

Publicly-traded Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation is looking at raising $170 million for expansion projects, an industry source said.

Conglomerate Ayala Corporation is expected to report improved third quarter earnings on the back of strong gains in its property and banking subsidiaries, company managing director Rufino Luis Manotok said.

NEW YORK, Oct. 30 (AFP) — The dollar pushed higher Friday, buoyed by news that the US economy beat expectations and expanded at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the third quarter.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) was recently ranked as one of the top 50 companies in Asia for creating the most value for their shareholders, according to a study made by CFO ASIA, one of Asia’s leading Asian finance magazine.

Newly installed Insurance Commissioner Evangeline Escobillo called on private insurance firms to practice clean, honest and graft-free dealings with her agency as part of efforts to elevate the Insurance Commission’s image in the community. A former banker, Escobillo said she intends to transform the IC into a model agency within her first 360 days, marking a turnaround on the government firm’s present image.

Limited availability of high-quality seeds, damage to pests and diseases, labor shortage, lack of value-adding in products, and the high cost of fertilizer, pesticide, and farm machinery are the most pressing problems the Philippines’ rice sector is faced with.

A recent survey suggested that turnover is lower and hiring rates higher in the IT-enabled services (ITES) industry than generally presumed by the industry and observers.

Economists recognize the crucial role of good governance in economic growth. The literature reveals that significant improvements in governance can triple a country’s income per capita in the long run and decrease mortality and illiteracy. Countries with good governance encourage their citizens to participate in productive rather than diversionary activities (bribery, thievery, piracy). Large increases in productivity, in turn, lead to high growth rates.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has modified the prescription in the "market share limitation" of power industry players when it opted to consider the generation load or run of power plants in setting ownership caps; instead of taking installed capacity as a reference.

The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has provided an initial seed fund of P50 million to four community-based forest management peoples’ organizations in Bukidnon.

Landco Pacific Corporation, the property arm of publicly-traded Metro Pacific Corporation, has earmarked P400 million to P500 million for the construction of a new mall in Naga City, Camarines Sur in joint venture with the Metro Gaisano Group.

China Banking Corporation (China Bank) will continue to exist on its own without fear of being gobbled up and merged with Banco de Oro (BDO), a universal bank owned and controlled by retail magnate, Henry Sy.

The foreign exchange rate will be at about R56.10 to $1 by December 31, 2005. That’s my fearless forecast. Some careless journalists have spread the inaccurate information that I had forecasted a R61 to $1 by yearend of 2005. If they had looked more closely at the report from which they quoted the figure they would have realized the figure R61.30 was the forecasted average for a four-year period ending in 2010. In a word, the model from which I took my forecast assumes a 3 to 4 percent annual depreciation of the peso for the next five years, hardly an alarming trend.

Japan has rejected the Philippine position on the automotive sector putting the negotiations for the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) virtually at a standstill as the Philippines is "standing pat" on its position.

To further cushion the impact of imposing the ten percent VAT on petroleum products the Department of Finance is thinking of reducing tariff rates from 3 percent to one, Secretary Margarito B. Teves said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rallied sharply Friday, with the Dow gaining 172 points on better-than-expected gross domestic product growth last quarter despite the disruptions caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The major indexes finished an erratic week higher.

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — The European Union has offered to reduce average agricultural tariffs by 46 percent, its steepest ever farm tariff cuts, in a proposal aimed at breaking a deadlock in world trade talks.