PH to lead Asean-wide Ro-Ro connectivity

KUALA LUMPUR—The Philippines is all set to lead the Asean Ro-Ro Connectivity launch this month with the opening of the roll-on roll-off route to Indonesia, according to Asian Marine Transport Corp.

“It is confirmed that the launching of the Asean Ro-Ro Connectivity will be on Oct. 18,” the company said via e-mail.

The shipping firm is providing maritime services for the maiden route connecting Davao and General Santos City to Bitung City and Manado City in Indonesia, said Ernesto V. Tan, Asian Marine SVP and CFO.

Asian Marine will also serve the second route for Asean Ro-Ro connectivity, namely Philippines-China-Vietnam, which may be launched in 2015. The Philippine port is Batangas City, which will be connected to Humen town in China and Danang City in Vietnam.

Asian Marine will initially designate one vessel each for the Philippines-Indonesia and Philippines-China-Vietnam routes. The shipping firm may later add more to service growing traffic, Tan said.

Now that intra-Asean trade is expected to boom, the company may post a record revenue this year and next despite tight competition from other shipping firms and from airlines offering freight services, Tan said.

Asian Marine aims to breach the P1 billion mark in revenue this year, representing a 24-percent jump from 2012. For 2014, the company wants to generate P1.5 to P2 billion in revenue.

Growth will come from maximizing the use of the companies’ ships and an overall expansion of the freight business as Philippine industries expand, Tan said. The Philippine economy has been expanding more than 7 percent for the past 4 quarters. Recently, it beat expectations for the April-June period when it grew by 7.5 percent.

Asian Marine has 27 ships in its fleet, all of which can serve long-haul, rough-sea routes similar to those in the Black Sea and other parts of Northern Europe.

Your Wise Investment

Source: By Riza T. Olchondra | Philippine Daily Inquirer

2:54 am | Friday, September 27th, 2013

Nurture economy, US Treasury exec urges PH

US Assistant Secretary for International
Markets and Development
Marisa Lago PHOTO FROM TREASURY.GOV

 MANILA, Philippines—A United States Treasury official has commended the Philippines’ recent strong economic showing, and encouraged the government to sustain the momentum by nurturing a business environment conducive to investment.

Marisa Lago, assistant secretary for international markets and development at the US Department of the Treasury, was in Manila this week for high-level talks with Philippine economic and finance officials aimed at enhancing the longstanding cooperation between the two countries.

“Strong economic leadership in the Philippines is helping to ensure that the reform momentum is sustained,” Lago said in a statement.

“The Philippines has an exceptional opportunity to sustain robust growth by attracting higher levels of foreign direct investment,” she added.

Lago met with top government officials, including Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Bangko Sentral Gov. Amando Tetangco and other senior economic officials. She also met with business leaders and US Ambassador Harry Thomas.

“These meetings focused on the government’s economic reform agenda, recent macroeconomic developments, and the Aquino administration’s vision to further economic growth. During these meetings, Assistant Secretary Lago also reaffirmed [the US] Treasury’s support for the Partnership for Growth, including assistance by [the] Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance,” the US Embassy said in a statement.

Partnership for Growth is a US Department of State program that seeks to promote closer coordination between the US and selected partner countries through “joint analysis of constraints to growth, the development of joint action plans to address these constraints, and high-level mutual accountability for implementation.”

Lago also visited the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters here and met with the bank’s officials including president Takehiko Nakao and executive director Ambassador Robert M. Orr.

She also visited ADB-assisted community programs in Cavite and observed the government’s implementation of the conditional cash transfer program.

Lago was en route to Indonesia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) finance ministers meeting ahead of the Apec Leaders Summit scheduled on Oct. 6 to 8.

Her visit coincided with the arrival this week of representatives from 14 US environment and energy firms, the largest US trade mission to come to Manila in years. The trade delegation was scheduled to be in Manila on Sept. 19 and 20.

The Philippines and the US have maintained steady trade ties in the last century, with total bilateral trade volume estimated at $22 billion in 2011.

Sponsored by: Your Wise Investment

Source: By Tarra Quismundo | Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted: 5:12 am | Friday, September 20th, 2013

Dollar holds firm in Asian trading after Fed slump

TOKYO – The dollar held firm in Asia on Friday, boosted by upbeat US jobs and housing data after slumping on the Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to keep its stimulus drive intact.

The greenback was at 99.32 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, slightly down from 99.38 yen in New York but well above the low 98-yen range Thursday morning.

The euro bought $1.3533 and 134.42 yen, against $1.3531 and 134.57 yen in US trade.

“The US dollar found some support overnight,” National Australia Bank said, adding that “the gains were backed by better-than-expected US economic data.”

Official figures on Thursday showed that new claims for US unemployment benefits rose modestly last week but the overall trend showed fewer layoffs, while home sales in the rose again in August after a July surge.

The data come a day after the Fed said it would hold off tapering its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying scheme, surprising markets which had been expecting a reduction amid signs of a recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

Fed easing floods the financial system with dollars, which tends to drive down the unit’s value, so a pullback on the plan was seen as likely to strengthen the greenback.

The bank’s inaction led to a brief rally in emerging market currencies after they suffered heavy selling in August as foreign investors fled to the United States expecting interest rates there to rise.

On Friday the dollar clawed back, firming to 62.16 Indian rupees from 61.67 rupees as India’s new central bank governor was set to chair his first monetary policy meeting.

Economist Raghuram Rajan took the helm as Reserve Bank of India chief earlier this month faced with the unenviable task of propping up a weak rupee, curbing rising inflation and reviving slowing economic growth.

The rupee has been plumbing all-time record lows as fears surged that a Fed pullback would send waves of capital flowing out of the region.

In other trading, the dollar strengthened to 11,385 Indonesian rupiah from 11,092 rupiah the previous day, to 1,073 South Korean won from 1,070 won, to Sg$1.2464 from Sg$1.2445, and to Tw$29.51 from Tw$29.45.

The dollar slipped to 30.97 Thai baht from 31.01 baht and to 43.03 Philippine pesos from 43.10 pesos.

The Australian dollar softened to 94.46 US cents from 94.91 cents, while the Chinese yuan bought 16.20 yen against 16.05 yen.

Sponsored: Your Wise Investment

Source: Agence France-Presse at Inquirer Philippines

Posted: 1:44 pm | Friday, September 20th, 2013