Category: Business

Oil companies will implement big-time rollbacks in the pump prices of petroleum products starting 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. In separate announcements, Caltex, Cleanfuel, Flying V, Jetti, Petro Gazz, Petron, Phoenix Petroleum, PTT, Seaoil, Shell and Unioil said they will slash gasoline prices by PHP3.05 per liter and PHP2.45 per liter on diesel. Caltex, Petron, Seaoil and Shell will also cut kerosene prices by PHP3 per liter. This, as oil prices in the world market last week posted their biggest weekly decline, with Brent crude dropping by 11 percent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) falling by 8 percent. However, global oil industry experts said the war between the Palestine and Israel that occurred over the weekend posed higher oil prices in the global market in the coming days. OilPrice.com data show that as of this writing, Brent crude was trading at USD86.76 to a barrel and WTI at USD85.14, which prices were higher by 2.58 and 2.84 percent, respectively.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Australian government’s plan to establish investment deal teams in Southeast Asia is a “revolutionary” move. Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner Christopher Lim of the Australian Embassy in Manila said their government generally encourages overseas companies to invest in Australia. ‘This is actually revolutionary for us. We never do something like that,’ Lim told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) during a media reception at the residence of Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Hae Kyong Yu PSM in Makati City on Friday. ‘What we realized with that strategy is we’re not investing enough in our region,’ he said, noting that Australia has invested more in New Zealand, which has a population of only 5 million compared to the 680 million market in the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Yu said the deal teams would look for opportunities in the ASEAN for Australian businesses to invest in. “(E)conomic relation is so important…and in recognition of this, the Australian government has rolled out the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy 2040…The Prime Minister [Anthony Albanese] has announced three measures. One is that the government is going to set up Investment Deal Teams right across Southeast Asia,” he said. “We want to see more scalable investments coming into the Philippines.” Lim said despite the Philippines not hosting a deal team, the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (AusTrade) would be working closely with the teams to get Australian firms to invest in the Philippines. ‘The general advantages that the Philippines has is the young, digital savvy, English-speaking population that is growing. That is the demographic dividend that allow so many things to happen in different ways, be it in technology, creative industries, education,’ he said. Aside from the investment deal teams, the immediate actions of the Australian government under its “Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040” include the Southeast Asia Business Exchange to boost two-way trade between the ASEAN and Australia and the Placements and Internships Pilot Program for Young Professionals. The Australian government will pour in 70.2 million Australian dollars for the investment deal teams, 19.2 million Australian dollars for the Southeast Asia Business Exchange, and 6 million Australian dollars for the internship program over four years. In a press conference last month, the embassy’s Deputy Head of Mission, Moya Collet, said ASEAN countries get only 3.4 percent of Australia’s total investments overseas. On Sept. 21, the AusTrade said in a news release that the investment deal teams in Southeast Asia would identify opportunities in priority sectors, provide market intelligence to investors, and advise on risk management and regulatory processes.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Singapore’s digital economy contributed 17.3% to economic growth and more than 200,000 tech jobs in 2022, according to new data released on October 6.

The figures were published in a report by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Across various metrics, the report showed that Singapore’s digital economy expanded over the five-year period between 2017 and 2022.

The report calculated the digital economy based on two components. The first is the value-add or economic contribution of the information and communications (I&C) sector, which comprises digital services typically associated with the tech industry like telecommunications, computing and software.

The second is the value-add that non-digital industries have from embracing digital technologies and solutions.

IMDA chief executive Lew Chuen Hong said the Government aims to continue to train more of the workforce to take on roles linked to the digital economy, regardless of workers’ backgrounds./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

VinFast, the electric vehicle (EV) maker of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, on October 5 said it will expand in 50 markets globally by the end of 2024.

It also revealed a plan to set up an assembling plant in India – the third largest automobile market in the world. Some 150-200 million USD will be splashed out on the Indian plant, which is designed with the capacity of 50,000 vehicles a year in the first phase.

According to VinFast, plant construction in new markets allows the firm to capitalise on the incentives of the host governments as well as access raw materials with attractive prices.

VinFast handed over 10,027 electric cars in the third quarter of this year, up 5% from previous quarter. Robust sales in the period was recorded in the Norther American market, especially Canada.

During January-September, as many 21,342 VinFast vehicles were delivered.

Besides, the firm saw impressive sales of electric motorbikes, with 28,220 vehicles sold in Q3, up 177% from Q2, and 113% as compared to the same time last year.

Its revenue rose 4% quarter-on-quarter, and 159% year-on-year to 8.254 trillion VND (342.7 million USD), nearly 7.7 trillion VND of which came from electric vehicle sales.

According to Le Thi Thu Thuy, VinFast Global General Director, VinFast has an ambitious plan to build a green future, and its business result in the last quarters is only an initial step.

A feasible plan was outlined to ensure that VinFast is able to make bold steps to become a global company, she said./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Amidst global headwinds, Vietnam has worked to step up disbursement of public capital to bolster the economy as Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has reiterated the significance of public investment disbursement as a motive to fuel economic growth in short term as well as put in place uniform and modern infrastructure to lure more investment for sustainable development.

At an economic seminar on October 5, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong highlighted that the disbursed capital during January-September topped 363 trillion VND (14.89 billion USD), up 46.7% from the same time last year.

The disbursement of investment sourced from the State budget was estimated at 51.38% of the yearly plan, the highest rate ever, Phuong said.

Director General of the General Statistics Office Nguyen Thi Huong said that the result is a vivid illustration of the Government and localities’ resolve to bolster implementation of projects right from the beginning of the year so as to create a driving force for economic growth in Q3, first nine months and the whole year.

A large volume of public capital will be disbursed in 2023, including for the socio-economic recovery and development programme, she said, adding procedures have been completed for projects under the investment plan during the 2021-2025 period, creating favourable conditions for promoting the implementation of public investment.

Localities with highest disbursement rates included Long An (68%), Tien Giang (61%) and Dong Thap (55%).

Meanwhile, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long, Soc Trang, An Giang and Ho Chi Minh City experienced the lowest disbursement rate. Particularly, the figure in Ho Chi Minh City was only 30% due to bottlenecks in site clearance process.

Phuong stressed that enhancing discipline is critical to deliver on the target of disbursing at least 95% the public investment budget.

Ministries, sectors and localities should make concerted efforts to remove bottlenecks in a timely and effective fashion, Phuong said, adding strict punishment should be meted out to any officials who delay the disbursement.

According to economist Nguyen Bich Lam, former General Director of the General Statistics Office, the disbursement of 95% of public investment will spur the GDP to rise 1.3%.

Public investment is an important booster for the economic growth in 2023 and the coming years, he said./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Profit-taking pulled the market down on Monday while the peso depreciated against the United States dollar. The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) declined by 16.71 points to close at 6,304.53 while the broader All Shares shed 1.71 points to 3,399.12. Philstocks Financial assistant research manager Claire Alviar said the local market declined due to last-minute profit-taking. ‘Investors also unload some gains while waiting for the release of the Philippine inflation rate,” she said. “The possibility that the inflation rate will be higher than August’s figure weighed on sentiment particularly that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas may raise interest rates.” Almost all sectors ended in the negative territory, except for Industrial and Services which gained 27.78 points and 1.61 points, respectively. Volume reached 591.36 million shares with a total value of PHP3.85 billion. Gainers led losers at 92 to 75, while 63 shares were unchanged. Meanwhile, the peso closed at 56.77 to a dollar, down from Friday’s 56.57 finish. It opened the day at 56.7 from the previous kickoff at 56.75. The currency pair traded between 56.67 and 56.8, bringing the day’s weighted average level to 56.728 to the greenback. Volume of trade slightly declined to USD1.152 billion from the previous day’s USD1.194 billion.

Source: Philippines News Agency