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Lakers’ predicament

It took the Lakers their highest-scoring output in close to four decades just to preserve their victory against the Pacers the other day. High numbers were expected, to be sure, in light of the visitors’ pacesetting capacity to put the ball through the hoop. In the other hand, the fact that they had to put up 150 on the board and yet win by a mere five points speaks volumes of both their offensive prowess and defensive liabilities. And, as all and sundry know only too well, it’s the latter that distinguishes definitive champions from foolhardy aspirants.

Needless to say, the Lakers’ uneven standing underscores their precarious position heading into the playoffs. They’ve claimed three straight matches and five of their last seven, and yet remain ninth in the highly competitive West. And so bunched up have contenders been in the current season that the purple and gold would have been fourth with the same record last year. In any case, they have their work cut out for them; even if they prevail in nine of their last 11 outings, they would need the Suns, Mavericks, and Kings to triumph in no more than six games for them to move up in standings.

In other words, the Lakers would do well to prep themselves for the inevitability of securing two play-in matches simply to take the eighth seed. If nothing else, they’re at least ahead of the rival Warriors, whose 4-7 slate over the last three weeks have given the 11th-running Rockets hope in playing spoiler. There is, of course, three more weeks’ worth of hoops left to negotiate in the regular season, so the danger of a campaign-ending flameout remains. And, in this regard, it cannot be emphasized enough that eight of their remaining encounters are on the road, and six against opponents with winning records.

Looking back, there’s no question that the Lakers’ 3-10 swoon right after taking home the In-Season Tournament title complicated matters for them. Had they simply succeeded in the same rate during the period, they would now be ensconced in a playoff spot. Then again, the past is the past, and there’s no value in looking back save for the lessons it imparts. And by mid-April, fans will know whether they learned from it well enough to continue casting moist eyes on the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Jackpots of $1.9 billion up for grabs in two US lotteries

STOCK PHOTO | Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

A Powerball drawing for $800 million, one of the largest jackpots in the history of that US lottery game, was held on Monday, ahead of a separate drawing for an even larger prize, $1.1 billion, up for grabs in the Mega Millions sweepstakes.

The Multi-State Lottery Association, which sponsors both games, was expected to announce early on Tuesday whether anyone purchased a ticket bearing the six winning numbers from Monday night’s latest Powerball drawing: 19-7-68-53-11-23.

If a winning ticket were purchased, the lucky player or players holding it could lay claim to a jackpot worth more than $800 million, the sixth-largest Powerball grand prize ever. Should a winner choose to accept it in a single lump sum, the prize carries a cash value of about $385 million, lottery officials said.

Monday’s drawing was the 36th since the last Powerball winner hit the jackpot on New Year’s Day 2024.

Anyone still feeling lucky will have a chance on Tuesday to take a $1.1 billion jackpot in the multistate Mega Millions, the fifth-largest prize in that game’s history.

The Mega Millions drawing will be held at 11 p.m. EDT on Tuesday (0300 GMT on Wednesday). Its jackpot was last won on Dec. 8.

Tickets for both lotteries are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands. Powerball is also played in Puerto Rico.

Even at $1.9 billion combined, the two purses at stake on Monday and Tuesday were still below the largest single lottery prize total in U.S. history. That came in November 2022 when a lone ticket holder in California won a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.

In both lotteries, winner or winners must match the correct six numbers on a $2 ticket.

The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are listed as one in 292.2 million. The odds of winning the Mega Millions are listed as one in 302.6 million. – Reuters

S.Korea consumer sentiment drops as food inflation emerges as top election issue

Image by manu zoli from Pixabay

SEOUL – South Korea’s consumer sentiment dropped sharply in March on growing worries about higher produce prices, a central bank survey showed on Tuesday, as inflation hitting the dinner table emerges as a major policy issue at next month’s elections.

The consumer sentiment index fell to 100.7 in March from 101.9 in February, posting the biggest monthly drop since October, in the Bank of Korea’s monthly survey of consumers.

Inflation expectations among consumers for the next 12 months rose for the first time in five months, to 3.2% from 3.0%, according to the survey, with two-thirds of the respondents saying produce prices would drive inflation.

That was up from 51.5% in the previous month responding to the same question.

South Korea’s consumer inflation accelerated in February, after three months of easing, due to supply-side pressures, mostly from higher agricultural prices.

Experts have attributed higher prices of agricultural products in part to poor weather but the opposition Democratic Party (DP) has targeted President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government for mismanaging the economy.

“The economy is collapsing and prices are going through the roof,” Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung said at a campaign rally in a major produce market on Sunday.

South Koreans go to the polls to elect the 300-member parliament and Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party is in an uphill battle to win back a majority now held by the opposition.

Consumer inflation shot to the headlines after Mr. Yoon visited a supermarket last week and picked up a bundle of green onions saying “I’d say 875 won ($0.65) is a reasonable price”, seemingly unaware the item was on sale and subject to heavy government subsidy.

Opposition party members and consumer groups criticized Mr. Yoon for being out of touch, when the same product is normally sold at more than 4,000 won.

Last week, after Mr. Yoon ordered “extraordinary measures” to bring “shopping basket inflation” under control, the government appropriated 150 billion won to inject subsidies and increase supply through direct imports.

It has also announced it would temporarily lower tariffs on imported farm goods.

In recent days, South Koreans were seen rushing to major grocery stores and lining up to buy apples and green onions supplied at cheaper prices on government subsidies, local media reported. – Reuters

New Zealand accuses China of hacking parliament, condemns activity

PIXABAY

WELLINGTON – The New Zealand government said it had raised concerns on Tuesday with the Chinese government about its involvement in a state-sponsored cyber hack on New Zealand’s parliament in 2021, which was uncovered by the country’s intelligence services.

The revelations that information was accessed through malicious cyber activity targeting New Zealand’s parliamentarian entities comes as Britain and the US accuse China of a widesweeping cyber espionage campaign. Both New Zealand and Australia have condemned the broader activity.

“Foreign interference of this nature is unacceptable, and we have urged China to refrain from such activity in future,” New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.

He said concerns about cyber activity attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese government, targeting democratic institutions in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom had been conveyed to the Chinese ambassador.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand said in an email that they reject “outright such groundless and irresponsible accusations” and have expressed their dissatisfaction and resolute opposition with New Zealand authorities.

“We have never, nor will we in the future, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including New Zealand. Accusing China of foreign interference is completely barking up the wrong tree,” the spokesperson said.

The government said earlier on Tuesday its communications security bureau (GCSB), which overseas cyber security and signals intelligence, had established links between a Chinese state-sponsored actor known as Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT40) and malicious cyber activity targeting New Zealand’s parliamentary services and parliamentary counsel office in 2021.

The GCSB said APT40 is affiliated with the Ministry of State Security.

It added APT40 had gained access to important information that enables the effective operation of New Zealand government but nothing of a sensitive or strategic nature had not been removed. Instead, the GCSB said it believed the group had removed information of a more technical nature that would have allowed more intrusive activity.

In the last financial year, 23% of the 316 malicious cyber events that involved nationally significant organizations were attributed to state-sponsored actors, according to the GCSB.

These attacks were not specifically attributed to China and New Zealand last year also condemned malicious cyber activity undertaken by the Russian government.

“The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” said Judith Collins, the minister responsible for the GCSB.

US and British officials late on Monday filed charges, imposed sanctions, and accused Beijing of a sweeping cyber espionage campaign that allegedly hit millions of people including lawmakers, academics and journalists, and companies including defense contractors.

American and British officials nicknamed the hacking group responsible Advanced Persistent Threat 31 or “APT31”, calling it an arm of China’s Ministry of State Security. Officials reeled off a laundry list of targets: White House staffers, US senators, British parliamentarians, and government officials across the world who criticized Beijing. Defense contractors, dissidents and security companies were also hit, officials from the two countries said.

A joint statement from Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said persistent targeting of democratic institutions and processes has implications for democratic and open societies like Australia. It said this behavior is unacceptable and must stop.

In 2019, Australian intelligence determined China was responsible for a cyber-attack on its national parliament and three largest political parties before the general election but the Australian government never disclosed officially who was behind the attacks. – Reuters

Billionaires sought to help fund Trump bond in civil fraud case, sources say

Former U.S. President Donald Trump — REUTERS/LEAH MILLIS/FILE PHOTO

Some major Republican donors were working together to help US presidential candidate Donald Trump fund the original bond amount needed to cover his $454 million civil fraud judgment ahead of Monday’s deadline, three sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Former Republican President Trump needs to pay a bond in a New York civil case in which he was found liable for fraudulently inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to secure better loan and insurance terms.

On Monday he won a bid to delay the enforcement of the judgment if he posts a smaller $175 million bond within 10 days, but until that last-minute reprieve he appeared to be struggling to raise the original amount and risked having his properties seized.

Billionaire hedge fund founder John Paulson was involved in the behind-the-scenes effort by donors concerned about Trump’s legal woes and looking to help provide money toward the bond, two of the sources told Reuters. Oil and gas magnate Harold Hamm was also involved, one of those sources said.

The sources asked not to be identified in order to speak freely about the matter, which has not been previously reported.

Mr. Paulson, the founder of Paulson & Co, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reached by phone and asked about his involvement, Mr. Hamm, the founder of oil company Continental Resources, appeared to hang up. A spokesperson for Mr. Hamm did not respond to requests for comment.

The Trump campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A fourth source, a Trump ally, said he had direct knowledge of one donor who offered more than $10 million toward the bond over the weekend, before being told it was not necessary.

After Monday’s court decision allowing a smaller bond, Mr. Trump said he would now be able to pay.

“I’ll post either the $175 million in cash or bonds or securities or whatever is necessary, very quickly,” Mr. Trump told reporters in New York.

Surety companies would have likely required Trump to post about $558 million in collateral for the original bond, or 120% of the judgment, according to Mr. Trump’s lawyers.

Full details of the billionaires’ efforts to raise funds, such as how much each donor had potentially pledged, were not immediately available. One source said the group had pooled the full amount originally due Monday. It was not clear whether the mega-donors would offer to help fund the new bond.

It was also unclear whether Mr. Trump would have to provide collateral or other guarantees to the benefactors.

The potential help from Mr. Trump’s billionaire allies shows that he retains some deep pocketed-support in his quest to win back the White House in the Nov. 5 presidential election against Democrat Joe Biden.

It also highlights how big donor money is playing a potentially different role in this presidential election as Mr. Trump faces a major financial squeeze amid multiple legal judgments and expenses.

Mr. Paulson and Mr. Hamm are both involved in an upcoming campaign fundraiser for Mr. Trump that is unrelated to the efforts around the bond. An invitation shows Paulson listed as a host and Hamm serving as a co-chair.

Funds raised at the April 6 event in Palm Beach, Florida, will go to Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee, state Republican parties and a group that has been paying some of Mr. Trump’s legal fees, according to the invitation.

Trump has talked about selecting Mr. Paulson as his Treasury secretary should he win the presidency, according to a separate source briefed on the matter.

 

LITTLE TRANSPARENCY ON BOND

There is no obligation to disclose the origins of funds obtained for a bond.

The terms of Mr. Trump’s $91.6 million bond for a defamation verdict in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll, for instance, were not disclosed. That bond was posted on March 8 by Federal Insurance Co, part of the insurer Chubb, which said it requires that bonds be fully collateralized.

In Trump’s civil fraud judgment, the bond would stave off the state’s seizure of his assets while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 judgment against him. A bonding company would be on the hook for any payout if Mr. Trump loses an appeal and proves unable to pay.

Donors helping to pay for Mr. Trump’s bonds could draw scrutiny from election regulators or federal prosecutors if the benefactors were to give Mr. Trump amounts exceeding campaign contribution limits.

While the payment would not be a direct donation to Mr. Trump’s campaign, federal laws broadly define political contributions as “anything of value” provided to a campaign.

Some 30 surety companies approached through four separate brokers turned down Trump’s attempts to secure the original bond needed to cover the $454 million judgment, his lawyers said earlier in March.

Had the pause not been granted and had Mr. Trump not able to post the original bond on Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James could have asked a court to start seizing assets, including prized real estate holdings like 40 Wall Street in Manhattan. – Reuters

France’s Macron looks to regulate illegal gold mining in French Guiana

FRENCH PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON — COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday the government is seeking to designate new regulated gold mining zones in its South American territory of French Guiana to combat illegal mining and its environmental consequences.

In an address from the territory ahead of a three-day trip to Brazil, Mr. Macron said France was considering drafting a plan within three months for areas with important gold reserves.

Workers in these areas would be held to sustainable mining rules, Mr. Macron said, including an existing ban on mercury, a toxic metal small-scale and illegal miners use in extraction which leaks into rivers, oceans, forests and spreads to human populations.

Illegal miners in the territory release around 1.3 kg of mercury for each kilogram (2.2 lb) of gold extracted, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) data showed.

The program would bar illegal miners, many from neighboring countries, from entering these areas and limit their activities motivated by rising gold prices, Mr. Macron added.

Gold, a safe-haven asset which tends to rise in times of geopolitical risk, has added over 10% in value from a year ago, nearing $70 per gram.

Last year, Mr. Macron said an estimated five metric tons of gold had been extracted from the territory, most illegally, and 35 kg (0.04 tons) were seized by authorities.

Mr. Macron said seized gold would now be sold to return funds to the territory, notably through projects linked to remedying the impacts of illegal mining.

Mr. Macron said he is also looking to boost cooperation with Suriname and Brazil on breaking up illegal supply chains and improving military coordination, with the goal of finalizing a strategy by the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference. – Reuters

 

Japan relaxes military export curbs for planned jet fighter

TOKYO – Japan’s government on Tuesday relaxed military equipment export restrictions, the second change in less than four months, to allow future overseas sales of an advanced jet fighter it is developing with Britain and Italy.

The rule change applies only to Cabinet-approved jet fighter exports and will be limited to countries – currently 15 – that have defense equipment transfer agreements with Tokyo committing them to settle international disputes peacefully in accordance with the United Nations charter, the government said.

Exports to countries involved in conflicts will remain off limits, it added.

Although limited in scope, the change, which comes after months of political wrangling between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito, represents the biggest shift in Japan’s military export policy in a decade, removing a potential obstacle that could have disrupted the jet fighter program.

Under that Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), Japan, Britain and Italy last year established a joint organisation and industry group led by Britain’s BAE Systems PLC, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Italy’s Leonardo to develop and deploy the advanced fighter by the middle of the next decade.

Any Japanese export ban that halted overseas sales and limited production numbers could have made the aircraft unaffordable because development expenses would have to be spread across a smaller fleet.

The rule change is nonetheless controversial in Japan because the country still adheres to a war-renouncing constitution adopted after its defeat in World War Two.

It also comes after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government in December made a separate export rule tweak to permit the transfer of defense equipment built under license to the countries holding the designs. It will allow Japan to ship Patriot air-defense missiles to the US. – Reuters

Behind the plot to break Nvidia’s grip on AI by targeting software

FILE PHOTO: The logo of technology company Nvidia is seen at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo

SAN FRANCISCO – Nvidia earned its $2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial-intelligence chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from startups to Microsoft, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet.

Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps.

Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm, Google and Intel plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going after the chip giant’s secret weapon: the software that keeps developers tied to Nvidia chips. They are part of an expanding group of financiers and companies hacking away at Nvidia’s dominance in AI.

“We’re actually showing developers how you migrate out from an Nvidia platform,” Vinesh Sukumar, Qualcomm’s head of AI and machine learning, said in an interview with Reuters.

Starting with a piece of technology developed by Intel called OneAPI, the UXL Foundation, a consortium of tech companies, plans to build a suite of software and tools that will be able to power multiple types of AI accelerator chips, executives involved with the group told Reuters. The open-source project aims to make computer code run on any machine, regardless of what chip and hardware powers it.

“It’s about specifically – in the context of machine learning frameworks – how do we create an open ecosystem, and promote productivity and choice in hardware,” Google’s director and chief technologist of high-performance computing, Bill Magro, told Reuters in an interview. Google is one of the founding members of UXL and helps determine the technical direction of the project, Mr. Magro said.

UXL’s technical steering committee is preparing to nail down technical specifications in the first half of this year. Engineers plan to refine the technical details to a “mature” state by the end of the year, executives said. These executives stressed the need to build a solid foundation to include contributions from multiple companies that can also be deployed on any chip or hardware.

Beyond the initial companies involved, UXL will court cloud-computing companies such as Amazon.com and Microsoft’s Azure, as well as additional chipmakers.

Since its launch in September, UXL has already begun to receive technical contributions from third parties that include foundation members and outsiders keen on using the open-source technology, the executives involved said. Intel’s OneAPI is already useable, and the second step is to create a standard programming model of computing designed for AI.

UXL plans to put its resources toward addressing the most pressing computing problems dominated by a few chipmakers, such as the latest AI apps and high-performance computing applications. Those early plans feed in to the organization’s longer-term goal of winning over a critical mass of developers to its platform.

UXL eventually aims to support Nvidia hardware and code, in the long run.

When asked about the open source and venture-funded software efforts to break Nvidia’s AI dominance, Nvidia executive Ian Buck said in a statement: “The world is getting accelerated. New ideas in accelerated computing are coming from all across the ecosystem, and that will help advance AI and the scope of what accelerated computing can achieve.”

Nvidia shares gained 0.8% to close at $950.02 on Monday.

 

NEARLY 100 STARTUPS

The UXL Foundation’s plans are one of many efforts to chip away at Nvidia’s hold on the software that powers AI. Venture financiers and corporate dollars have poured more than $4 billion into 93 separate efforts, according to custom data compiled by PitchBook at Reuters’ request.

The interest in unseating Nvidia through a potential weakness in software has ramped up in the last year, and startups aiming to poke holes in the company’s leadership gobbled up just over $2 billion in 2023 compared with $580 million from a year ago, according to the data from PitchBook.

Success in the shadow of Nvidia’s group on AI data crunching is an achievement that few of the startups will be able to achieve. Nvidia’s CUDA is a compelling piece of software on paper, as it is full-featured and is consistently growing both from Nvidia’s contributions and the developer community.

“But that’s not what really matters,” said Jay Goldberg, chief executive of D2D Advisory, a finance and strategy consulting firm. “What matters is the fact that people have been using CUDA for 15 years, they built code around it.” – Reuters

EastWest Bank to conduct its Annual Stockholders’ Meeting virtually on April 19

 

 

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Recto sees two rate cuts this year

FINANCE SECRETARY RALPH G. RECTO — DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) may cut interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) this year, Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said.

“Possibly, 50 bps (this year). Maybe two (cuts). This is just my expectation,” he told reporters in mixed English and Filipino on the sidelines of an Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines event last week.

Mr. Recto, who sits on the Monetary Board, said the rate cuts this year will be “less than what we previously thought.”

“Last quarter last year, we were looking at four adjustments this year. Maybe it’s now just two,” he said.

However, he does not expect the easing cycle to begin at the Monetary Board’s next meeting on April 8.

“I don’t expect interest rates to go up or go down (next meeting). I might be wrong, but I don’t expect,” Mr. Recto said.

The central bank may end up reducing borrowing costs by up to 200 bps over the span of two and a half years, he added.

The Monetary Board kept its benchmark rate steady at a near 17-year high of 6.5% at its February meeting. The BSP had hiked borrowing costs by 450 bps from May 2022 to October 2023 to tame inflation.

The Finance chief also expects inflation to remain elevated.

“I think interest rates will be higher for longer because inflation will be higher for longer,” he said.

“Remember, you still have the disruption of the supply chain because of geopolitical tensions. There’s reshoring, onshoring, refiguring out the supply chains globally.”

Both Mr. Recto and BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. expect inflation to quicken to 3.9% in March from 3.4% in February.

If realized, this would mark the second straight month of faster inflation. March inflation data will be released on April 5.

This year, the BSP expects inflation to average 3.6%, within its 2-4% target range.

Diwa C. Guinigundo, country analyst for the Philippines of GlobalSource Partners, said that an uptick in inflation could impact the BSP’s decisions moving forward.

“That could affect the BSP decision if the price pressures continue to build up and bring inflation forecasts uncomfortably close to the upper end of the target. If they ease under such conditions, inflation expectations might be de-anchored,” he said in a Viber message.

The BSP must continue to remain vigilant against risks that threaten to stoke inflation, Mr. Guinigundo said.

“What is more material to our local monetary authorities is the outlook for inflation for the next two years and any short-term risks that could substantially alter the inflation forecasts,” he said.   

“They must be monitoring any brewing supply shocks like the impending wage adjustments and transport fare increases that could trigger second-round effects and upset the market’s inflation expectations,” he added.

The central bank’s risk-adjusted inflation forecast for this year is at 3.9%.

Mr. Remolona earlier said that February inflation data showed that it is still too soon to declare victory over inflation, citing upside risks such as elevated food prices.

Mr. Guinigundo also noted the impact of the El Niño on the inflation outlook.

“El Niño must have been considered before but it looks like it’s getting more serious. So the market should look at the BSP’s risk-adjusted forecasts more carefully than its baseline forecasts,” he said. “Keeping the policy stance steady remains optimal while they are still sorting out the many balls in the air.”

The latest bulletin by the state weather bureau showed that the El Niño across the tropical Pacific Ocean shows signs of weakening and is expected to persist until May.

The BSP also earlier warned that the dry spell could impact agricultural output and stoke inflation in the second quarter.

An earlier study by BSP economists showed that El Niño Southern Oscillation events could increase headline and food inflation by 0.49 percentage point (ppt) and 0.69 ppt, respectively. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

GDP likely grew by 6.1% in Q1

Traffic is seen along EDSA in this file photo. — PHILIPPINE STAR/RYAN BALDEMOR

PHILIPPINE gross domestic product (GDP) likely grew by 6.1% in the first quarter amid an improvement in government spending, economists said.

“The economy looks set to accelerate in 2024 with first-quarter GDP estimated at 6.1% as infrastructure spending goes into high gear with the National Government (NG), buoyed by official development assistance funding and public-private partnership (PPP) projects (gaining) traction,”  First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said in its latest The Market Call report.

If realized, the 6.1% GDP growth would be slower than the 6.4% logged in the first quarter of 2023, but faster than 5.6% in the fourth quarter.

In 2023, the economy grew by 5.6%, much slower than the 7.6% expansion in 2022 and fell short of the government’s 6-7% target.

“With actual NG spending in 2023 exceeding the program by 2%, we think the administration will start 2024 with a bigger bang compared to 2023,” FMIC and UA&P said.

Last year, the NG’s budget deficit narrowed by 6.32% to P1.51 trillion. Government expenditures went up by 3.42% to P5.34 trillion and exceeded its full-year program by 2.06%.

FMIC and UA&P said the government will have “greater confidence” to spend earlier in the year to support economic growth.

“Infrastructure spending, both government funded and PPP projects, should accelerate in 2024 as NG bids out and awards large undertakings starting with the recent Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) expansion,” it added.

The government is targeting to sustain infrastructure spending of up to 5-6% of GDP annually.

The Marcos administration is ramping up the implementation of its flagship infrastructure program which comprises of 185 projects worth P9.14 trillion.

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto earlier said that there is a need to come up with more “realistic” macroeconomic targets not only for this year but for the medium term.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) has set a 6.5-7.5% GDP growth target for this year.

Mr. Recto said that an “aspirational” target would be 6.5% GDP growth while a more “realistic” goal is 6%.

He also noted that the upper end of this year’s 6.5-7.5% target is “too high.”

Meanwhile, FMIC and UA&P said that inflation may settle within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) target range this year.

“Inflation should fall within the BSP target of 2-4% for the year as rice and crude oil prices ease, albeit without discounting occasional spikes,” it said.

The BSP expects inflation to average 3.6% this year.

In February, the headline print quickened to 3.4%, the first time it accelerated in five months.

BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. has said that inflation could once again pick up to an estimated 3.9% in March due to positive base effects.

“We also don’t see a repeat of the February inflation spike as rice prices abroad had begun to ease while crude oil prices have little upside given the weak China economic recovery and surplus capacity in both OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC countries,” FMIC and UA&P said.

FMIC and UA&P kept its 3.8% average inflation forecast for 2024.

“Although in the first quarter, it may average lower at 3.2%,” it added.

March inflation data will be released on April 5. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

SEC asks NTC to block Binance in Philippines

THE SECURITIES and Exchange Commission is asking the National Telecommunications Commission to block access to the Binance website in the Philippines. — REUTERS

THE PHILIPPINES is blocking access to the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says has been operating in the country without a license.

During its March 12 meeting, the Commission en Banc approved the filing of a formal request with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to help block Binance’s website and its other web pages, the SEC said in a statement.

“The SEC has identified the aforementioned platform (Binance) and concluded that the public’s continued access to these websites/apps poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos,” SEC Chairperson Emilio B. Aquino said in the letter addressed to the NTC.

The latest move comes after the SEC issued an advisory on Nov. 28, 2023, warning the public against investing in Binance. At that time, it said the removal of access to Binance would take effect within three months to give time for Filipino users to exit the exchange.

“Binance, however, has not secured from the SEC a license to solicit investments from the public, nor to create or operate an exchange for the buying and selling of securities, as required by Republic Act No. 8799, or The Securities Regulation Code (SRC),” the regulator said.

The SEC noted that Binance has conducted promotional campaigns on social media to encourage Filipinos to invest and trade on its platforms. Binance’s app is also available on Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Binance is described as the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, with more than 183 million members. It has an average daily trading volume of $65 billion covering over 402 cryptocurrencies.

“Considering the size and volume of Binance’s operations, however, the SEC ensured that the investing public would have enough time to exit the platform and reposition their portfolio in favor of authorized investment products and platforms,” the regulator said.

The SEC has also previously asked Google and Facebook operator Meta to prevent Binance’s online advertisements from targeting users in the Philippines.

“This is similar to moves by other regulators in other countries, amid prudence by local regulators to uphold the best interests of the investing public. However, there may be some disruptions to those with accounts locally,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort told BusinessWorld via Viber message.

Mr. Ricafort said Binance would need to get a license from the SEC. “That is the fundamental requirement for all investments in the country,” he added.

The SEC previously warned that salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents, representatives, promoters, recruiters, influencers, endorsers, and enablers of Binance may be held criminally liable under the SRC and could face a fine of up to P5 million, or imprisonment of up to 21 years, or both.

As of press time, Binance has yet to respond to a request for comment.

In November last year, Changpeng Zhao stepped down as chief executive officer of Binance and pleaded guilty to breaking  anti-money laundering laws in the United States. This was part of a settlement to resolve a US Justice department probe into Binance, which was accused of failing to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

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