BSP reviews 6 proposed foreign loans of gov't

BSP reviews 6 proposed foreign loans of gov't

By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

March 5, 2011, 11:53pm

 MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is reviewing six proposed National Government foreign loans worth $1.45 billion for release and implementation this year.

The government has a borrowing requirement of $4 billion, of which $2.5 billion is the approved amount by the BSP to raise from sale of ROPs and other bonds for budgetary support. About $1.5 billion including project loans of $44 million are the official development assistance loans allotted for 2011.

These foreign borrowings are submitted to the central bank for assessment and review, such as rates, concessions and impact on general funding of the state.

Based on central bank documents, the list of proposed NG borrowings for this year are: the $300 million Governance and Justice Reform Program, the $250 million Investment Climate Program, the $250 million Disaster Risk Management Financing, the $250 million Financial Market Regulation and Intermediation Program, the $250 million Development Policy Loan and the $155 million National Program Support Loans.

The lone $44 million project loan was not identified.

For this year the BSP expects public and private sector foreign borrowing to reach $20.5 billion, 56.2 percent higher than last year. Half of which are private sector loans, estimated to reach $10.1 billion this year primarily for the public-private infra programs.

The BSP in a report said $20.5 billion amount is based on the borrowing plans submitted by both the government and corporate entities, loans approved in principle last year and pending loan applications as of the end of December.

The central bank has a foreign loan ceiling of $10.5 billion this year so half of the expected external borrowing will be charged to the ceiling.

Of the expected foreign loans, the government or public sector will contribute 51 percent of total or $10.4 billion with the National Government planning to borrow $4 billion this year. The NG will account for 38 percent of the total public sector borrowing requirements, of which about $2.5 billion are commercial loans, $1.45 billion are program loans and only $44 million are project loans. Last January 5, the NG borrowed $1.2 billion of the $2.5 billion commercial loans to fund budgetary requirements.

Last year, the central bank approved total foreign loans of $10.3 billion and 62.2 percent or $6.5 billion were charged against the ceiling, which was originally set at $12.7 billion but later was reduced to $10.5 billion.

The government borrowed $9.3 billion foreign loans in 2010 and $1 billion from the private sector. According to the BSP document, the loans approved last year were all medium to long-term in nature, with maturities ranging from 10 to 40 years and weighted average maturity of 16.5 years, higher than 2009's 14 percent. The central bank said this could be due to the increase in the issue size of Philippine bonds with 24- to 25-year maturity.

Last year, in terms of currency mix, the BSP approved $5.8 billion of total foreign loans in US dollar, $2.3 billion in Japanese yen, $1 billion in Philippine peso and $221 million in Euro.

The Homeland becomes the Fatherland

If Today's Events Lead to the Anti-Terror bill... See what it is all about...

The following is verbatim copy of The Anti-terror law also known as “The Human Security Act of 2007″. You can also download The Human Security Act of 2007 in PDF format.

This law, Republic Act No. 9372, defines terrorism as acts of sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace, in order to coerce the government to give to an unlawful demand. It prescribes imprisonment of up to 40 years for violators.

Many of those who are opposed to the law point to the lack of human rights under the Arroyo regime and say that this law will further the Arroyo Administration’s push to suppress government transparency through media, activism, and free speech.

Republic of the Philippines

CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES

THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

Third Regular Session

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9372

AN ACT

TO SECURE THE STATE AND PROTECT OUR PEOPLE FROM TERRORISM

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

http://www.tingog.com/government/the-human-security-act-of-2007.html

Suicide or Murder?

Former Sec. Angelo Reyes commits Suicide

Ex-Energy Chief shoots self in front of mother's grave, dies at Quirino Hospital

By MANILA BULLETIN ONLINE

February 8, 2011, 9:03am

MANILA, Philippines - Former Energy Chief Angelo Reyes was reportedly shot in the chest. Reyes was rushed to the Quirino Hospital in Quezon City and reports have it that he died at around 8:30 a.m. He was 66. He is survived by his wife and 5 children.

UPDATE: Reyes was reported to have committed suicide. According to the EPD, Reyes visited his mother's grave at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City where he shot himself on the spot.

A preliminary showed that Reyes had bullet wound in the heart.

As per the Quirino Hospital sources, they tried to revive Reyes for 45 minutes before declaring him as expired.

Complete news story to follow later.

Global Warming Caused by Us?

 The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at fighting global warming. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would preventdangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."^[1]

The view that human activities are likely responsible for most of the observed increase in global mean temperature ("global warming") since the mid-20^th century is an accurate reflection of current scientific thinking (NRC, 2001, p. 3,^[7] 2008, p. 2).^[8] Human-induced warming of the climate is expected to continue

Why do we have price hikes?

Prices, fares, toll go up Posted by alvin_mejia on 11 Jan 2011 Link (URL):  http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20110106-312741/Prices-fares-toll-go-up Date:  Thu, 2011-01-06 MANILA, Philippines—The start of 2011 seems to bode ill for Filipinos as bread and  public road transport—from jeepney and bus to taxi and light rail transit rides—                                   are expected to cost more. Bakers on Wednesday said bread prices would go up in the coming weeks if prices of                                 flour and sugar did not go down soon. In Lapu-Lapu City, where Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc. inaugurated a plant                                    Wednesday, its president said a bread-price increase was imminent because                                             bakers had yet to pass on to consumers the increase in flour and sugar prices                                          from late last year.

Debt Republic of the Phillipines

Philippine debt hits P4.42-T as of end-Oct

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 01/18/2010 6:53 PM | Updated as of 01/18/2010 9:48 PM

MANILA, Philippines - The national government's outstanding debt inched up as of October due to higher local borrowings and a weaker peso, the Bureau of Treasury said Monday.
Total debt reached P4.42 trillion for the first 10 months of 2009, up 2% from the P4.34 trillion recorded as of end-September. Local debt, which accounted for 55% of the total, was slightly up at P2.45 trillion.
The government has secured a large portion of its foreign debt needs this year after it sold $1.5 billion worth of dollar bonds early this month. It was the first sovereign debt issue in Asia for 2010.
The government also plans to use part of a $1-billion global bond sale in October to finance its 2010 budget deficit, which is seen to reach P293 billion or 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Earlier, the government said the country's budget shortfall likely reached P290 billion or 3.7% of GDP last year. With a report from Reuters