FMIC sees Philippine economy growing 7.5-8% in 2013

Photo: yahoo.com

The First Metro Investment Group sees 2013 to be another banner year for the Philippines, expecting the domestic economy to expand by 7.5-8 percent alongside a benign inflation environment, record-low interest rates and a bullish stock market.

The above-trend economic growth forecast for 2013 is seen supporting a 20-percent average growth in corporate earnings and, in turn, propelling the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index toward 6,800 this year.

Heavy election spending, increased infrastructure projects, robust consumer and service sectors and stronger tourism and gaming are seen as supporting a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of above 7.5 percent in 2013, much higher than the country's trend growth of below 5 percent prior to the last presidential elections in 2010.

"With a 7.1 percent increase in GDP in the third quarter of 2012, a lower-than-expected inflation rate of 3.2 percent, gross international reserves rising rapidly that have reached $84.1 billion and a debt-to-GDP ratio that has fallen below 50 percent, the Philippines is definitely now on the rise," said FMIC chairman Francisco Sebastian.

"The economy is in an unprecedented growth momentum, supported by solid fundamentals," he said.

Interest rates are anticipated to further ease due to lower inflation, a much-awaited upgrade to a sovereign investment grade rating, massive liquidity and limited supply of Philippine debt papers.

"As a result of robust economic growth, the government's pungent anti-corruption stance that has improved tax administration and with new tax revenue sources, budget deficit will remain low and may not reach P200 billion or 1.5-1.6 percent of GDP," said FMIC president Roberto Juanchito Dispo.

Economist Victor Abola of the University of Asia and the Pacific, FMIC's partner in its monthly research publication, said public sector consolidation would be a necessary condition to the country's take-off. "It's a very important development that debt-to-GDP ratio falls below 50 percent this year and will progressively go down further. The debt-to-GDP ratio is below Malaysia's and by the end of this year, will be below Thailand's," he said.

With this fiscal consolidation, Abola said that public infrastructure spending could go full-blast while private sector and consumer spending as well as investments would likewise turn robust.

"For an economy growing at a fast pace, all engines must be in high speed and we're seeing both public and private sector doing that," he said. (http://is.gd/U6Gs2H)

Inquirer 

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TESDA Enhancing 1.7 Million TVET Filipinos Skills & Competencies 2013

Close to 300,000 out-of-school youth as well as unemployed graduates benefits from the Jobs Bridging and Internship Program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which set up 1,628 "Help Desks" nationwide. From January 2013 to November this year, 281,666 jobseekers assisted by the desks were hired, through referrals and job matching.

Through its jobs bridging event held in the regions, TESDA has helped to bridge the hiring gap for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates. Close to 1.7 million Filipinos are enrolled in various TVET programs in institutions, enterprises, and communities. Of these, about 1.5 million graduated. Of the 935,230 individuals assessed, 803,350 or 86 percent were certified. TESDA has a network of over 4,000 public and private institutions.

TESDA's Specialistas Technopreneurship Program (TSTP) assists unemployed TVET graduates find sustenance through entrepreneurial activity. Under the program, TVET graduates are formed into "TESDA Specialistas" who are on-call to provide skilled services-for-fee to community households, such as building/house repair and maintenance, beauty care and wellness, appliance repair, automotive/vehicle maintenance, tourism and health related, and computer hardware. TESDA also implements enterprise-based programs, such as "Kasanayan at Hanapbuhay" program which produced 69,192 graduates this year.

Technical-vocational (tech-voc) courses are becoming popular among young Filipinos. Public schools and government centers offer tech-voc courses for them as well as adults who may wish to acquire skills and technical knowhow. The government is encouraging sectoral participation in developing the potentials of the country's human resources. Popular courses for men are computer technology, cellphone repair, auto mechanic, electrical installation and maintenance, construction painting, masonry, heavy equipment servicing, and carpentry, while women prefer caregiving, dressmaking, beadmaking, culinary art, cosmetology, reflexology, and food technology.

We congratulate Department of Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Joel J. Villanueva, all the best and success in their cooperative efforts to provide relevant vocational-technical training for Filipinos.

Manila Bulletin 

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Philippines asked help from china for Rare Earth Minerals Exploration but ignored

Rare Earth Mineral. Photo: Wikipedia

As defined by IUPAC, rare earth elements ("REEs") or rare earth metals are a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. Scandium and yttrium are considered rare earth elements since they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties.

Despite their name, rare earth elements (with the exception of the radioactive promethium) are relatively plentiful in the Earth's crust, with cerium being the 25th most abundant element at 68 parts per million (similar to copper). However, because of their geochemical properties, rare earth elements are typically dispersed and not often found concentrated as rare earth minerals in economically exploitable ore deposits. It was the very scarcity of these minerals (previously called "earths") that led to the term "rare earth". The first such mineral discovered was gadolinite, a compound of cerium, yttrium, iron, silicon and other elements.

Rare earth minerals are used for the production of  high powered war weapons, Wind Mill, Smart phones, High power magnets and lots of uses for producing a modern gadgets. As reported in the Business Mirror, "MGB eyes search for rare earth mineral sites in Q1" the Philippines is likely to engage in Rare Earth Element production in Palawan and Northern part of Luzon.

The government aims to identify by the first quarter potential mining tenements for the Philippines's venture into rare earth elements (REE) production, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said on Wednesday (January 2, 2013).

"In fact, we have already found potential areas to explore and these areas are also close to copper-gold mines. Notably, Palawan and Nueva Vizcaya are the best places to start," said MGB Director Leo Jasareno.

REE are the raw materials for producing electronics and other modern-day gadgets.

The MGB earlier said P20 million has been set aside for the REE venture.

The Philippines's bid to develop REE production comes after China capped exports of the commodity more than a year ago.

Manila sought help from state-run China Geological Survey for the exploration program, but no such assistance was forthcoming after tensions between the two countries heightened because of competing claims over portions of the West Philippine Sea, believed a treasure trove of oil and gas reserves.

"So far, we have received no word from them," Jasareno said.

China, which controls about 97 percent of the world's rare elements, has reduced its export quota to gain control over global prices of the commodity.

Prices of the metals however have gone down over the past several months, with China's biggest producers cutting production to halt the slide.

Also called the "metals of the future," REE are used in the production of weapons guidance systems and other space age technologies.

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