Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 11 | Page 12

BUSINESS NEWS
12
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY June 1 - 15, 2018
8990 Holdings Inc. expects
reservation sales to hit 2,000 units
8990 Holdings Inc., the listed
mass housing developer is close to
selling 2,000 units at its 13-building
project in Tondo, Manila.
About 3,200 units were put on
sale and are expected to be delivered
before the end of the year.
The project will rise within an 8.4-
hectare property that aims to change
the landscape of Tondo.
8990 will spend P8 billion through
2020 for this project. When complet-
ed, the company will deliver 13,000
units worth around P20 billion.
In 2018 alone, 8990 expects to
generate P4 billion in sales from its
Tondo project.
In the first quarter, revenues
from the project stood at almost P1
billion.
“Once our buyers saw that the
buildings are nearing completion,
we noticed a significant jump in our
sales. We are certain we will see this
trend continue as we roll out more
units to meet the strong demand for
housing in the Tondo area,” said 8990
president Willie Uy.
The project is composed of
eight buildings, of which four will be
completed this year and the rest by
the first half of 2019. It will create an
ongoing and consistent revenue and
profit stream, he said.
The Tondo development carries
the Urban Deca Homes brand.
By 2020, 8990 will have a total of
15,285 units in Metro Manila.
Aside from the Tondo project,
the company is currently develop-
ing
1,024
units at Urban
Deca Homes
Campville in
Muntinlupa
City. Another
project is Ur-
ban
Deca
Towers Edsa,
a 42-floor res-
idential build-
ing that has a
total of 1,143
units.
8990
started turning
over units for
UDT Edsa in
the third quar-
ter of 2017.
(I. Gonzales,
PS)
PNT Foreign Exchange
$1.00 Cdn = P 40.79 Php
$1.00 US = P 53.09
€1.00 EUR = P 62.38
D1.00 BHD= P 140.57
R1.00 SAR = P 14.16
¥1.00 JPY= P 0.48
Peso still likely to hit P54:$1 by yr-end
The Philippines’ weakening ex-
ternal position and higher interest
rates will continue to put pressure
on the peso, Singapore-based bank
DBS said as it retained expectations
of a fall to P54 versus the US dollar
by yearend.
“The currency has depreciated
5.8 percent year-to-date, more than
the full-year depreciation of 5.4 per-
cent and 4.7 percent seen in 2016
and 2015, respectively, to become
the weakest currency in Asia ex Ja-
pan,” DBS said in a report released
on Tuesday.
It noted that the peso had fallen
to a 12-year low against the dollar on
Monday, closing 25 centavos down at
P52.95:$1, the lowest since a
P52.98 finish on July 3, 2006.
“The latest weakness was trig-
gered by the trade deficit which wid-
ened to a cumulative $12.2 billion in
the first four months, 1.6 times wider
than the same period a year ago,” it
added.
The trade shortfall is being pres-
sured from both sides, DBS said,
pointing to a 6.2 percent year-on-year
decline in exports and a 10.5 percent
increase in imports over the first four
months of the year.
It also noted that the country’s
foreign reserves had, for the first time
since 2014, fallen below $80 billion to
settle at $78.96 billion in May.
DBS also weighed in on the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP)
decision last month to raise key inter-
est rates, saying this was prompted by
inflation having hit five-year highs.
The 25-basis point adjustment
took the central bank’s overnight bor-
rowing, lending and deposit rates to
3.25 percent, 3.75 percent and 3 per-
cent, respectively.
May’s headline inflation of 4.6
percent brought the year-to-date av-
erage rate to 4.1 percent, above the
BSP’s 2.0-4.0 percent target.
“We see one more hike later this
year,” DBS said.
“With opinion divided on whether
the economy is overheating, the peso
is likely to keep its depreciation path
towards 54 by end-2018,” it also said.
(M. Carablalo, TMT)
BSP to liberalize forex rules to facilitate investments
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP) is set to further ease the rules on
foreign currency trading to make it easy
for foreign investments to come in and
out of the country.
BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr.
said the regulator has circulated a draft
exposure on the planned relaxation of the
foreign exchange rules to facilitate the
movement of foreign investments.
“We are not done yet. It is about
further liberalization of investment rules,”
he said.
Espenilla said the proposed easing
would involve simplifying the movement
of foreign investments in the country.
“We want to make it easy for
investments to come in, and also
for investments to go out, legitimate
investments. So both sides,” he said.
Latest data from the central bank
showed foreign direct inv