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Nation at a Glance — (12/22/17)

News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.

How much do families spend on Noche Buena?

China signals 3-year financial risk campaign

CHINA’S top leaders said they are taking a three-year approach to winning “critical battles” against financial risk, pollution and poverty, and signaled that monetary policy will remain “prudent and neutral” next year in support.

Economic policy makers led by President Xi Jinping agreed to “fight the battle of preventing and resolving major risks, with a focus on preventing and controlling financial risks,” according to a statement following the annual Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing, released by the official Xinhua news agency late Wednesday. In the coming three years, China will seek to control financial risks and foster a “virtuous circle” between finance and the real economy, the statement said.

Policy makers didn’t repeat language on outright deleveraging from the previous two years, but instead focused comments on risk in the financial system, signaling that’s where pressure will continue to be applied in the coming year. The reiteration of a prudent and neutral monetary policy stance for next year signals that policy makers again seek to balance the goals of reining in the nation’s rampant credit growth and polluting industries while ensuring growth doesn’t slow too drastically.

“The statement doesn’t mention corporate deleveraging, suggesting financial de-risking takes priority for the moment,” said Yao Wei, chief China economist at Societe Generale SA in Paris. “This is a more practical approach, as the economy would not be able to handle both financial and real economy deleveraging at the same time.”

The nation also must build and improve mechanisms for pushing ahead high-quality development and further supply-side structural reforms, the statement said. Policy makers also agreed to move faster to put in place a housing system that ensures supply through multiple sources and encourages both purchases and rentals in 2018, the news service reported.

President Xi and his top policy lieutenants gathered for the three-day meeting after a robust economic performance this year with growth on pace to expand 6.8%, the first annual acceleration since 2010.

“The top priority of the past five years has been power consolidation. For this purpose, stimulus in property and infrastructure has been used to provide a stable economic backdrop,”  Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong, wrote in a note. Authorities are now “keen to curb the risks accumulated over the past five years, so that growth could be more sustainable over the next five years without having a financial meltdown.”

Fielding Chen, a Bloomberg Economics economist in Hong Kong, noted that preventing financial risks has a more prominent spot in this year’s statement with a specific time-line and to-do list. “It highlights the increasing importance of this objective,” he said.

The People’s Bank of China has increased borrowing costs in the inter-bank market this year, while keeping steady the benchmark rate that governs lending rates in the wider economy. — Bloomberg

When to avoid holiday traffic in Metro Manila

Using data collected in 2016, Waze has come up with the date and the hours of the day when traffic is at its worst during the holidays. Waze also cited cities across the country that will experience increased traffic.

waze-key cities
Data source: Waze

Four decades of providing liquidity and stability

In 1977, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) was created to develop and provide for a secondary market for home mortgages granted by public and/or private home financing institutions. That secondary market, which would enable home financing institutions to optimize the leverage of funds earmarked for housing and loan development, was one of the Philippine government’s responses at the time to the urgent need to increase the funds committed to the housing effort.

Almost 10 years after its creation, in 1986, under the Executive Order No. 90, NHMFC was given the task of operating a viable home mortgage market, purchasing the mortgages originated by both public and private institutions. The funds it used came primarily from the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Services Insurance System (GSIS), and the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF). But the corporation stopped operating under the order in 1995. Then, by virtue of another executive order, issued just before the turn of the millennium, NHMFC returned to developing a secondary mortgage market to finance mortgage take-out and fast-track the disposition of existing mortgages.

The succeeding years saw NHMFC take important steps to better meet the affordable housing needs of the Filipinos. In 2003, its nonperforming loans (NPLs) were auctioned off. The following year, Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) was created as its subsidiary. Since 2005, SHFC has been running the Community Mortgage Program (CMP), which provides affordable financing to underprivileged citizens, that its parent company used to administer, as well as the developmental component of the Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund (AKPF) program, which helps finance housing site development and improvement, among others.

In 2007, the transformation of NHMFC into a secondary mortgage institution began with the maiden securitization of the corporation with help of a financial advisor. Two years after, NHMFC launched the maiden securitization issue of the P2.06-billion Bahay Bonds 1 (BB1), the first-ever residential mortgage backed securities issued in the Philippines by a government agency. It was interesting to note that this happened amid the global financial crisis gripping many of the world’s economies. Still, Bahay Bonds were oversubscribed not just once but twice. They even earned NHMFC a best securitization deal award at The Asset’s Triple A Regional Awards in 2009.

Also in 2009, NHMFC’s board of directors approved the proposed guidelines on Housing Loan Receivable Purchase Program (HLRPP) that granted the president of the corporation the authority to approve all purchases under the program and allowed the purchase of housing loan receivables from originating institutions, which would later be turned into an asset pool for an eventual issuance of securities.

Following the success of Bahay Bonds, NHMFC issued Bahay Bonds 2 or BB2 in 2012, which, like BB1, earned high credit ratings from the local credit watcher Philippine Rating Services Corp. For the issuance of the BB2 Special Purpose Trust, the corporation was awarded the Innovative Listed Corporate Bond Issue of the Year by the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corporation in 2013.

That year also saw NHMFC receive an ISO 9001:2008 certification for its accounts servicing divisions for Rizal. The certification attested to the corporation’s ability to consistently provide product that met customer, statutory and regulatory requirements. The corporation managed to secure the same certification for its Borrower Counseling System the following year.

Constantly thinking of ways to satisfy the housing needs of many Filipinos, NHMFC launched two new subprograms last year with the specific aim of expanding the target market of HLRPP. One, the Socialized Housing Loan Take-out of Receivables (SHeLTer) program was rolled out in the second quarter of 2016. This aims to ease the country’s socialized housing backlog by offering a liquidity facility to originators — nongovernment organizations, cooperatives, microfinance institutions, local government units, national government agencies, and private corporations — which are currently or still planning to conduct a housing program for their employees, constituents or members. The terms SHeLTeR offers are affordable: 4.5% for the first 10 years.

Released in the last quarter of 2016, the MAginhawang BUhay dahil sa baHAY (MABUHAY) is the first-ever reverse mortgage program in the Philippines. It seeks to address the needs of senior citizens of the country by allowing them to convert a portion of their home equity into cash that they can use at their discretion.

Shaping a sustainable housing finance system

Since 1977, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) has conformed to its mandate of increasing the availability of affordable housing loans for Filipinos. As it plays its role as a secondary mortgage institution (SMI), NHMFC is able to finance homebuyers on their acquisition of housing units.

As an SMI, the primary purpose of NHFMC is to attract long-term investments through the issuance of housing bonds or other securities in order to increase liquidity in the housing sector and to purchase residential loans, mortgages or receivables originated by public and private institutions and developers.

Through NHMFC’s commitment to actual purchase of mortgages and housing loan receivables, originating institutions have the assurance for an immediate recovery of their assets. In this case, these institutions are effectively reinforced and enabled to lend to more home borrowers. The process is also helping them as they earn fees for the monthly servicing of loan repayments.

As the NHFMC trades the asset-backed and government guaranteed housing bonds or securities, funds are generated that are again flowed back into home financing. The process is overcoming fund volume limitations, letting borrowers avail affordable home loans with lower interest rates and longer repayment periods.

Over the decades, the NHMFC has developed several programs to cater the housing needs of Filipinos. To name a few are the Community Mortgage Program and the “Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund Program”, which are now administered by its subsidiary, the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC). The SHFC was created by the virtue of Executive Order No. 272.

The Community Mortgage Program is a mortgage financing program funded by the government to improve the living conditions of homeless and underprivileged citizens. Those who are qualified to apply in the program are provided with a loan to finance the acquisition of an undivided tract of land which they are currently occupying or where they are resettled.

The maximum amount of loan that qualified informal settlers can apply depends on the location of the land. As NHMFC’s noted on its Web site, the loan ceiling for highly urbanized areas is P120, 000 per beneficiary or family, while P100,000 per beneficiary or family for other areas. The loan under this program has a maximum repayment period of 25 years at an interest rate of 6% per annum.

Meanwhile, the “Abot-Kaya Pabahay Fund Program” was created to implement a continuing program of social housing and enhance government’s efforts to make low-cost housing affordable to low income families. It focuses on: making the funds available for low income families to assist them in paying their housing loans; and utilization of funds to support private developers, nongovernment organizations and landowners in providing affordable housing packages to low-income families.

To further perform its mandate in operating a viable housing finance system through the securitization of the residential home mortgages, the NHMFC has established the Housing Loan Receivables Purchase Program (HLRPP), which aims to purchase valid loans, mortgages or receivables from the originating institutions.

On Nov. 19, 2009, the proposed guidelines on the Housing Loan Receivable Purchase Program (HLRPP) that granted authority for the NHMFC president to approve all purchases under the HLRPP was approved. Under the new guidelines, NHFMC is allowed to purchase housing loan receivables from the originating institutions that can be turned into an asset pool for eventual issuance of securities or bonds for sale in the capital market.

Housing developers, government financing institutions, banks, cooperatives and corporate employers with housing program may apply to HLRPP as originators. Meanwhile, the housing loan accounts qualified for the purchase under this program are existing residential loans from qualified housing loan originators and loans with lot only as collateral.

With the aim of expanding the target market of HLRPP, NHMFC launched the Socialized Housing Loan Takeout of Receivables (SHeLTeR) program and the Reverse Mortgage Program, in the second and last quarter of 2016, respectively.

The SHeLTeR program aims to purchase socialized housing loan receivables from socialized housing developers, microfinance institutions, cooperatives, LGUs, national government agencies and civic organizations. It offers more affordable terms as it targets the socialized housing market.

The first-ever Reverse Mortgage Program in the country by NHMFC was launched through the “MAginhawang BUhay dahil sa baHAY (MABUHAY)” program. MABUHAY allows senior citizens to convert a portion of their home equity into cash in order to address their various needs. — Mark Louis F. Ferrolino

Balance of payments gap shrinks in Nov.

THE COUNTRY’s balance of payments (BoP) remained in deficit in November as the government settled its foreign debts, although substantially narrower than the peak recorded a year back, the central bank reported late Tuesday.

The external payments position settled at a $44-million deficit last month, down from the $368-million gap posted in October and from the record $1.671-billion deficit logged in November 2016, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

The BoP measures the country’s transactions with the rest of the world at a given time. A deficit means more funds fled the economy than what went in, while a surplus shows that more money entered the Philippines.

“Outflows in November 2017 stemmed mainly from payments made by the national government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations during the month in review,” the central bank said in a statement.

The debt payments were offset by bigger foreign currency deposits held by the national government, as well as the steady stream of income from the BSP’s offshore investments.

The November print brought the year-to-date BoP tally at a $1.78-billion deficit, wider than the $206-million deficit during the comparable period in 2016.

This is closer to the $1.4-billion deficit expected by the BSP for the entire year, which is wider than $500-million shortfall expected during its May policy review and the $420-million deficit posted as of end-2016.

The BSP attributed the wider deficit to a “big reversal” in foreign portfolio investments this year, which saw more flighty funds head for the exit amid uncertainties in the financial markets.

Hot money posted a $634.53-million net outflow in the 11 months to November as persistent concerns about succeeding interest rate increases in the United States, global terrorist attacks and North Korea’s nuclear missile tests continue to weigh on investor sentiment.

These added to uncertainty towards the local mining industry after several sites were ordered closed by the government in February.

Despite the bigger BoP deficit, the country’s dollar reserves provided a degree of comfort at $80.313 billion in November, enough to pay 8.2 months’ worth of import duties.

Several economists have pointed out that the widening current account deficit, which makes up the bulk of the country’s external payments position, has been affecting market sentiment towards the Philippines.

However, central bank officials have said that the deficit simply reflects increased imports of raw materials and intermediate goods that will be used for bigger infrastructure spending and business activity in the Philippines.

Imports are expected to grow by 10% annually this year and in 2018.

The BSP last week announced revisions to its BoP forecasts for this year and 2018, saying it still expected the Philippines’ external payments position to remain “manageable” at an equivalent of below one percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

For 2017, the deficit will settle at 0.5% of GDP, while the 2018 gap is expected to be equivalent to just 0.3% of GDP. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

Budget chief says Duterte to veto provisions in tax reform, 2018 spending plan

THE PRESIDENT can be expected to veto provisions in the recently enacted tax reform and 2018 general appropriations acts, the Budget chief said, even as the presidential spokesman said that budget items to be deleted would be “very minor.”

“Actually, we have submitted the draft of the veto message to the President,” Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said in a press briefing yesterday.

“Surely there will be some items, although we cannot tell you now which items will be recommended for the veto,” he added.

“And that is also true for the TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act or Republic Act No. 10963).”

‘VERY MINOR’ BUDGET VETO
Zeroing in on RA 10964 that provides for a P3.767-trillion spending plan for 2018, Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque, Jr. had told reporters separately in a Tuesday press briefing that “the President will be the one to announce later on the very minor line vetoes in the budget.”

RA 10963 — the first of up to five planned tax reform packages — cuts personal income tax rates, and makes up for the expected foregone revenues by reducing exemptions from value-added tax, increasing excise tax rates for fuel and automobiles and introducing an excise levy for sugar-sweetened drinks.

It also doubles taxes for some investment products as well as the mining excise tax, and increases levies for tobacco and coal, while simplifying and reducing estate and donors’ tax rates.

The first package was supposed to rake in an additional P130 billion in the first year of implementation, but last-minute changes to the measure eroded this amount to a little more than P90 billion. The Finance department is now moving to convince Congress to make up for the first package’s revenue shortfall by approving next quarter “the second part of the package” consisting of an excise tax amnesty, easing of bank secrecy restrictions and an increase in the Motor Vehicle Users Charge in order to bring projected revenues of the entire package back to P130 billion.

Some lawmakers have also questioned TRAIN’s mere P2.50-per-pack increase in excise tax on cigarettes from P30/pack currently. Senator Emmanuel “Manny” D. Pacquiao on Oct. 3 filed Senate Bill No. 1599, aiming to tax cigarettes at P60/pack, while Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” G. Ejercito filed on Oct. 23 SB 1605 that raises the said excise tax to P90/pack.

Asked by reporters last Tuesday whether he is comfortable with the increase in tobacco tax in the first package, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III replied: “It’s okay, it is what it is… I would say that it is better than a sharp stick in the eye.”

“Right now it’s already there so it makes no sense for us to make a new proposal, so you better talk to other proponents on what their view of the matter is,” said Mr. Dominguez.

“You have to evaluate… will the legislature have the appetite to reconsider something else. So how strong is the desire of the proponent to push it ahead?”

The tobacco tax hike was initially planned for the fourth or fifth package of the Finance department’s comprehensive tax reform program before it was introduced in the first package.

The Finance department aims to submit to Congress next quarter the second tax reform package that seeks to cut the corporate income tax rate to 25% from 30% currently in order to put it at par with levies of the Philippines’ Asian rivals for foreign investments. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan defy rise in Asia’s business sentiment

TOKYO — Business confidence among Asian companies rose in October-December to the highest in almost seven years due to robust consumption and global trade, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed.

The Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index, representing the six-month outlook of 94 firms, rose to 78 for the December quarter from 69 three months before.

The index reached its highest since January-March 2011.

A reading above 50 indicates a positive outlook.

Improvement in sentiment in Australia, China and South Korea drove gains in Asia’s overall index.

Sentiment in Indonesia and Thailand was also strong, showing that many countries in Asia continue to benefit from accelerating global growth.

“The index shows that the slow strengthening that we have seen in the world economy has lifted business sentiment in Asia,” said Antonio Fatas, a Singapore-based economics professor at global business school INSEAD.

“Asia is a reflection of what is happening in the world,” he said.

The index measuring sentiment in Australia rose to a record high of 92 in October-December from 69 in the previous quarter. The country’s ruling coalition has recovered from a dual-citizenship crisis that threatened to throw policy-making into turmoil. Signs of a rebound in consumer spending, Chinese demand for Australian metals and growing capital expenditure in other sectors has also underpinned sentiment.

On the downside, the sub-index for Taiwan fell to 50 in October-December from 75 in the previous quarter, but the decline may have been exaggerated by a smaller sample size.

The index for Malaysia weakened to 64 from 75 as respondents expressed concern about consumer sentiment.

Business sentiment for the Philippines fell to 70 from 83 previously, while in Japan sentiment eased to 70 in October-December from 75 in the previous quarter.

In Singapore, the sentiment subindex rose to 79 from 64.

China, upon which much of Asia depends for trade, saw its subindex rise to 83 to reach the highest since the third quarter of last year.

The market reforms that Chinese President Xi Jinping laid out at the Communist Party Congress in October has fuelled optimism that the world’s second-largest economy can manage a surge in house prices and credit growth.

South Korea’s subindex rose to 83 from 50 in the previous quarter to reach the highest since the second quarter of 2011, as international pressure has so far slowed the pace of North Korea’s missile tests for its nuclear weapons program.

The subindex for Indonesia slipped to 92 in the fourth quarter from 100 in the previous quarter but remained at a high level.

Sentiment in Thailand and India improved, while sentiment in Taiwan fell to the lowest level in more than a year.

ASSET PRICES AND POLITICS
The International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have raised their global growth forecasts for this year due to strong trade, consumer spending, and investment in many major economies.

However, the outlook is not without risk.

Respondents to the survey, which was conducted Dec. 1-15, showed companies’ biggest concern was a sudden correction in asset prices.

US stocks have repeatedly set record highs this year and stock markets in most other countries have rallied strongly due to expectations for faster growth.

Some analysts have expressed concerns that stock prices may be overheating.

Companies from the transportation, health care, energy and finance sectors also expressed concern about a correction in asset prices, the Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed.

Industries subject to frequent mergers and acquisitions, such as technology, metals, natural resources and health care, identified increased regulatory scrutiny of cross-border transactions as a risk, the survey showed.

Many companies have concerns about protectionism, which can hurt not only exports but also become a barrier to making acquisitions overseas.

Of companies surveyed, nine respondents identified political instability and geopolitical risks as their biggest concerns, because events on one side of the globe, such as Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union, can have consequences elsewhere.

“The impact of ‘Brexit’ affected British demand for tourism aboard,” said Supitcha Fooanant, senior investor relations manager at Minor International PCL, Thailand’s leading hotel and restaurant operator.

“We saw a decline in British tourists in our hotel portfolio. Fortunately, our successful diversification strategy enables us to maintain resiliency and consistently achieve robust results.” — Reuters

Offshore oil searches coming back to fashion

SINGAPORE — Surveying the ocean floor for oil and natural gas reserves is gradually emerging from a multi-year slump, everywhere apart from Asia.

That’s despite Asia being the world’s biggest consumer of oil, having by far the strongest demand growth while seeing its production fall faster than anywhere else. The reasons for Asia’s dearth in offshore exploration and production (E&P) include high costs in Australia’s promising waters, declining reserves in production hotspots Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as territorial disputes in the oil- and gas-rich waters of the South China Sea.

“We only have two 3D vessels in Asia-Pacific, since there are fewer opportunities and less activity in that region,” said Bard Stenberg, vice-president at Norwegian offshore survey company PGS, adding that most of his company’s vessels were in the Atlantic.

A 2017 and 2018 activity map by geophysical surveillance firm TGS shows the most activity in the North Atlantic.

A similar map by Bernstein Research showed the Asia-Pacific basin to have only four minor offshore developments of under 50,000 barrels per day (bpd).

That compares to five major developments (above 50,000 bpd) and 11 minor ones in the Atlantic.

Asia’s dearth comes despite the region’s huge oil deficit, resulting from booming demand and declining output.

In one of the most promising regions, Australia, the main problem is cost, in part due to a requirement for rigs to pay for Australian crew once in Australian waters.

“Once any foreign-flagged vessel is in Australian waters, the ship operator has to pick up Australian workers… They work 12 hours a day, seven days a week for four weeks, then get 4 weeks off,” said Christy Cain of the Maritime Union of Australia.

When oil prices were high, this was not a big problem, drillers said. But in times of cheaper oil and low profit margins, the added cost deters explorers, several said.

In another promising area, the South China Sea, conflicting territorial claims, especially between China and Vietnam, have hindered E&P activity.

Meanwhile, in Asia’s most established offshore oil and gas production basins of Malaysia and Indonesia, recoverable reserves are depleting.

Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, Southeast Asia’s biggest oil producer, is increasingly focusing on downstream projects like the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in the southern state of Johor.

From 2019, PIC will refine crude oil into fuel and petrochemical products.

Significant amounts of its crude will come from Saudi Arabia.

With little E&P activity, Asia’s oil import bill — which has already more than doubled since 2000 to over $420 billion a year — will rise further, likely above $500 billion in 2017, leaving other regions to cash in on Asia’s oil thirst.

COUNTING HELICOPTERS
Gauging the health of the secretive offshore industry is difficult.

But dozens of mothballed rigs and support vessels sit idle in southern Malaysia’s Johor river delta, waiting to be used or scrapped.

Yet cautious optimism is emerging.

“Activity to support new development projects may increase slightly (between 2018 and 2020), but is unlikely to approach historical high levels (2013/14),” Petronas said in an outlook this month.

Douglas Westwood, which monitors helicopter activity to and from offshore vessels, has a similar view.

“The offshore helicopter market has finally started to recover following three years of decline,” Westwood said, although it added that average annual growth between 2018 and 2022 will still only be one percent.

“Global utilization will average 59% over the forecast,” it said, up from a paltry 54 percent in 2017.

At the root of the industry malaise lies rampant overproduction in the years running up to 2014, which crashed crude prices from over $100 per barrel in 2014 to below $30 in 2016.

E&P companies were among the first to feel the bite of aggressive industry cost slashing.

Firms in the seismic oil surveillance sector, including Polarcus, PGS, and Electromagnetic Geoservices have seen their share prices crash since 2015, in some cases by over 90%.

Only a production cut led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has stabilized Brent above $50 a barrel since mid-2017.

With oil demand healthy, the offshore industry hopes companies will start spending on future output again.

“We’re hoping that it’s going to pick up next year,” said Cain of the Maritime Union of Australia.

In a sign that even in Asia-Pacific there may be some more activity, the geothermal surveillance ship Polarcus Naila left Singapore in early December for a seismic mission in the Bonaparte Basin, off Australia’s northwest coast.

Speaking to Reuters during a visit to Singapore by the ship, one of the Naila’s senior crew members said he hoped things would go from “worst to bad.” — Reuters

PLDT allots ‘record’ P50-B capex for 2018

PLDT, Inc. is setting aside a record high capital expenditure budget of least P50 billion next year, as it works on improving its network amid the looming entry of a third telecommunications player.

“We will announce a historic high capex next year, north of P50 billion,” PLDT Chairman, President and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on Wednesday.

Next year’s capital spending is up by nearly a third from this year’s P38 billion, and will be used to finance the telecommunications giant’s network expansion and improvement of mobile and fixed-line services.

“We’ll make sure that we’ll future-proof our network,” Mr. Pangilinan said.

PLDT, he said, is “trying to get ready in case it happens as early as the first quarter,” referring to the entry of China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), the third player chosen by the Chinese government to invest in the Philippines.

China Telecom’s local partner, however, has yet to be determined, since the Constitution limits foreign ownership in certain industries such as telecommunications to 40%.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte has said he wants a third telecommunications provider to start operating by the first quarter, which would challenge the duopoly of PLDT and Globe Telecom, Inc. in the country.

Reuters reported that China Telecom is still studying the plan to invest in the Philippines.

“China Telecom is currently having a preliminary study on the investment opportunity in the Philippines and no concrete plan has been determined yet,” a company spokeswoman was quoted by Reuters as saying.

FUNDING
Mr. Pangilinan said PLDT’s capex for 2018 will be funded through the sale of assets.

“Well, the normal level of around P40-ish billion, the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) can handle that. The incremental capex of around P10 billion, we’ll fund through the sale of assets. We still have receivables from MPIC from the sale of Beacon, so we might sell some of that,” he said.

PLDT has remaining receivables worth P15 billion from parent Metro Pacific Investments Corp. with respect to shares of Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc. and a 6.1% stake in German startup Rocket Internet SE valued at P12 billion.

Mr. Pangilinan last November said PLDT upgraded its recurring core profit guidance to P22 billion from the original P21.5 billion, after the nine-month tally rose 5% year on year to P17.36 billion from P16.55 billion.

PLDT has invested around P300 billion or nearly $6 billion in the last decade for its fixed and wireless network infrastructure, which now has 150,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables.

In October, PLDT said it is investing around P7 billion ($136.7 million) in a new Trans-Pacific cable system called Jupiter. The system will be built and operated by a consortium of global firms including Amazon and Facebook.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

Strong demand boosts yields on 7-day deposits

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez,
Senior Reporter

YIELDS on week-long term deposits dropped yesterday amid strong demand as the central bank decided to stop offering month-long instruments to target excess funds held by lenders.

Banks swarmed the seven-day tenor as bids reached P46.212 billion, well above the P40 billion dangled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday. This also reversed the P38.92 billion in total tenders received the previous week which settled below the offering.

Wednesday’s auction marked the first time that the central bank removed the option to bid for 28-day term deposits as lenders had a smaller surplus of cash ahead of the holiday season.

The average yield dropped to 3.4004% on the back of strong appetite for these placements, down from the 3.4542% rate fetched during the Dec. 13 offering. Banks asked for returns ranging from 3.125-3.5%.

The term deposit facility (TDF) is currently the central bank’s main tool to capture excess funds in the financial system by allowing banks to park the extra cash they hold under the window, in exchange for a small return.

Through this, the BSP expects to influence market rates to log closer to the 3% benchmark rate, coming from below the 2.5% floor of the interest rate corridor.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said that lenders were sitting on a smaller stash of idle funds under the TDF, which merits a drastic reduction in the weekly auction volume.

“Based on our liquidity forecast, we need to mop up as much as P40 billion. Since the 28-day TDF was scrapped and the BTr (Bureau of the Treasury) rejected all bids recently, banks competed for the unchanged volume of the seven-day TDF,” Mr. Guinigundo said in a text message to reporters.

The Treasury rejected all bids for reissued five-year bonds on Tuesday for the fourth consecutive time after the government raised P255.4 billion in retail bonds in November.

Banks instead chose to use their money supply by granting more loans, buying foreign exchange, paying off debts, and acquiring additional investments, the central bank official said.

Anticipation for increased cash requirements over the Christmas season — or when families withdraw more cash to spend for celebrations and gift-giving — may have also prodded banks to hold on to more cash rather than lock them in for a month under the TDF.

For next week, the BSP again kept the auction volume at P40 billion for the week-long tenor and none under the 28-day term. This offering is the smallest since the P30-billion inaugural offering in June last year when the weekly TDF auctions started.

Mr. Guinigundo has said that the shorter tenor lends more “flexibility” for banks in managing their funds and servicing client demands.

The BSP held fire on monetary policy at its policy meeting last week as inflation remains within target and with economic growth remaining upbeat, which came despite a fresh rate hike in the United States that would trigger rising global yields.

As expected, the Monetary Board kept borrowing rates unchanged during its eighth and final policy review for 2017.

The BSP will hold its next monetary policy review on Feb. 8, 2018.

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