BSP: Piso, magpabiling lig-on bisan pa sa US credit rating downgrade

TAGBILARAN CITY, Aug. 9 (PIA) – GISEGURO sa Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) nga magpabiling lig-on sa 42 hangtud 54 nga level ang kantidad sa piso kontra dolyar bisan gipaubos sa Standard and Poor’s sa AA+ rating ang credit rating ng Estados Unidos gikan sa kanhi AAA.

Sa briefing sa Senate Finance committee kalabot sa balaodnon sa 2012 national budget, miingon si BSP Governor Amando Tetanco Jr. nga bisan moubos ang piso, makabarug ra usab kini.

Ang lig-on nga pagsulod sa remittances sa mga Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), export receipts ug ang igong reserves ang mosuporta sa kalig-on sa piso.

Samtang matud pa usab ni kanhi Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, dili angay magpanik ang gobyerno sa gihimo sa Standard and Poor’s nga pagpaubos sa AAA rating sa Estados Unidos sa AA+ nga maoy pinakaubos nila nga rating sukad niadtong tuig 1917.

Dugang pa ni Diokno, lig-on pa gihapon ang ekonomiya ng US kun itandi sa mga nasud sa Europa o bisan sa China.

Bisan pa niini, gitataw ni Diokno nga angay pa gihapon’g mag-andam ang Pilipinas tungod kay siguradong maigo ang nasud kun mohinay ang ekonomiya sa Amerika ug mao kini ang panahon aron mas hingusgan sa kagamhanan ang domestic economy niini. (PIA-Bohol/ecb)

Inflation to peak in Q3

PRICES of major commodities may peak sometime in the third quarter following a slowdown in June, but it is still possible that full-year inflation may be lower than the 4.7 percent average forecast, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday.

“We already lowered our forecast (during the last monetary policy stance meeting) to 4.7 percent from 5.1 percent. We may lower it again on the next meeting. We will study the data we have,” BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco said.

At the start of the year, the BSP said that inflation for this year would be within the target range of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent, and set a forecast average of 4.7 percent for the full year.

But the BSP is not counting out the possibility of inflation going higher in the coming months even if it went down to 3.9 percent in June.

On Tuesday, the National Statistics Office said the headline inflation rate decelerated to 3.9 percent in June from 4.3 percent in May, further bolstering the central bank’s view that inflation this year will be “fairly safe.”

“June inflation at 3.9 percent is just a tad above the lower end of our forecast range for the month and nearly half a percentage point lower than the level in May of 4.3 percent. This inflation path therefore puts the full year inflation targets for 2010 and 2011 fairly safe,” Tetangco said. (PIA-Bohol)

Consumers to enjoy lower money transfer fees – BSP

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that consumers will continue to enjoy lower money transfer and remittance costs due to heightened competition between banks and companies that offer money transfer and remittance services.

BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said in an interview with reporters that companies that offer money transfer and remittances services have been forced to lower their fees in light of the strong competition from banks that offer similar services as well as providers of mobile banking services.

He pointed out that the central bank no longer needs to step in and intervene in the sector as competition has forced companies engaged in the money transfer and remittance business to lower their fees.

To date, the BSP said there are about eight million users of mobile banking in the Philippines boosting the central bank’s efforts to provide financial services in rural and hard to reach areas at a lower cost and higher efficiency.

These users of electronic money (e-money) transact through Smart Money of PLDT-controlled Smart Communications and G-cash of Ayala-controlled Globe Telecom in the Philippines.

Espenilla said the number of banks offering mobile banking for microfinance operations has reached 49 rural banks from none before 2005. (PIA-Bohol)

Consumer confidence hits record high of 10% in Q2 – BSP

CONSUMER confidence in the next 12 months has become more optimistic due to the outcome of the recent elections.

In the latest Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the consumer confidence index (CI) for the year ahead jumped to a record 10 percent from 5.1 percent a quarter ago and -7.6 percent a year ago.

In particular, the survey showed that the next three months’ CI reached its second highest level since the nationwide survey started in 2007, although the pessimists continued to outnumber the optimists but only by a small margin.

CI for the next quarter reached -1.8 percent, higher from the -4.8 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

“The positive outlook for the next quarter mirrored the rebound in consumer confidence in other countries such as the United States, China, Mexico, Hungary, Slovenia, and Czech Republic,” BSP said. (PIA-Bohol)