BUSINESS NEWS
12
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY February 1 - 15, 2019
PAL eyes Baguio flights
Flag carrier Philippine Airlines
(PAL) is eyeing flights to-and-from
Baguio City once the Loakan Airport
reopens, the country’s chief economist
said.
“According to CAAP (Civil
Aviation Authority of the Philippines),
which was present during our meeting
[last Thursday] at the Loakan Airport,
the airport needs improvements for
safety purposes, which we saw and
agreed,” Socioeconomic Planning
Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.
While the Baguio airport needs
to be modernized, “in its present
condition it can handle a flight a
day (Fokker planes) so that the
improvements can be done,” said
Pernia, who heads the state planning
agency National Economic and
Development Authority (Neda).
According to Pernia, “PAL is
willing” to launch flights at Loakan
Airport “with CAAP’s green-light.”
Pernia added that more
flights could be added when airport
improvements have been done.
According to a recent report
of the Inquirer’s Northern Luzon
bureau, the modernization of the
Loakan Airport, built in 1934, would
cost about P50 million.
The
airport
had
been
mothballed and did not serve any
major airline since the 1990s,
although it used to host PAL’s flights
between Baguio and Manila.
The government is looking
into the feasibility of reviving Loakan
airport’s operations even as it is
close to the San Fernando Airport in
PNT Foreign Exchange
$1.00 Cdn = P 39.41 Php
$1.00 US = P 52.14
€1.00 EUR = P 59.10
D1.00 BHD= P 138.39
R1.00 SAR = P 13.90
¥1.00 JPY= P 0.47
La Union as well as the soon-to-be-
finished Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union
Expressway (B. De Vera, Inq, TPLEx).
Philippines falls in talent competitiveness index
The Philippines ranked lower in
a 2019 talent competitiveness report.
Nonetheless, the Southeast
Asian nation led the group of lower-
middle-income countries in terms of
talent edge.
Results of the 125-nation
Global Talent Competitiveness Index
2019 — published by INSEAD
business school, the Adecco Group
and Tata Communications — showed
the Philippines scored 40.94 out of
100, placing the country at the 58th
spot. In 2018, the country ranked
54th out of 119 nations tracked by
the report.
The report defines “talent
competitiveness” as the set of policies
and practices that enable a country
to develop, attract and empower the
human capital that contributes to
productivity and prosperity.
“The Philippines has a good
pool of Global Knowledge Skills
(34th), scoring quite well in both High-
Level Skills (37th) and Talent Impact
(30th),” the report said.
“It is also relatively adept
in growing talent (41st), where its
strengths in Lifelong Learning (27th)
and Access to Growth Opportunities
(42nd) offset a sub-standard Formal
Education (85th),” it added.
“More discouragingly, the
country’s weak Sustainability (88th)
and Lifestyle (91st) subpillars result in
a low ability to Retain (92nd) talent,” it
continued.
This year’s Global Talent
Competitiveness Index rankings was
dominated by Switzerland, which
scored 81.82 out of 100, followed
by Singapore, the United States,
Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden,
Netherlands, the United Kingdom
and Luxembourg.
Yemen placed on the bottom
of the list. (I. N. Cigaral, PS)
Results of the 125-nation Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019 — published
by INSEAD business school, the Adecco Group and Tata Communications
— showed the Philippines scored 40.94 out of 100, placing the country at
58th spot. In 2018, the country ranked 54th out of 119 nations tracked by the
report. (The STAR/Rudy Santos)
PH drops nine places in economic freedom
The Philippines dropped nine
places to rank 70th among 186
economies in terms of economic
freedom this year from 61st in
2018, according to the Heritage
Foundation.
The country received lower
scores in 10 sub-indices that included
tax burden and judicial effectiveness
in 2019.
According to the Heritage
Foundation, the Philippines’ score fell to
30.9 from 34.4 in terms of government
integrity; judicial effectiveness from
38.2 to 36.4; tax burden, from 78.9
to 76.9; government spending, from
89.3 to 88.7; fiscal health, from 97.7
to 97.1; and business freedom, from
62.6 to 61.3.
It said that while there was an
improvement in the property rights
and labor freedom sub-indices, the
reduction in scores in the ten other
sub-indices caused a net reduction
in overall score of 63.8, which was
slightly better than that of France.
The Department of Finance
said as in any measure, the index
left out important details. It said the
foundation put a premium on small
government without regard for the
economy’s developmental stage.
“But a developing economy
may require greater government
involvement in the economy as in the
provision of infrastructure and social
services such as basic education,
health, and social protection,” the
DoF said. (J.G. Rada. MS)
Supply of fish, fruits, veggies still a concern
As supply pressures continue
to hound some food commodities,
the Department of Finance (DOF) is
seeking measures to ensure enough
fish, fruits and vegetables in the
market.
In an economic bulletin,
Finance Undersecretary and chief
economist Gil Beltran noted that food
prices in January rose by 0.3 percent
from December levels due to higher
prices of fish (+3.1 percent month-
on-month), fruits (+0.4 percent) and
vegetables (+0.3 percent).
“Supply dips continue to bug
these sectors,” he said.
“Productivity programs need
to be implemented to reverse the
price increases of fish, fruits and
vegetables,” he said.
The DOF official nonetheless
noted that prices of corn, meat, rice
and sugar in January declined from
December levels.
The headline inflation rate last
month slowed to a 10-month low
of 4.4 percent, although still above
the government’s 2-4 percent target
range.
“Inflation is mainly supply-
side driven. The inflation decline was
due to the streamlining of the supply
chain, including that for imported
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goods, upon the President’s signing
of several administrative orders and
memorandum circulars on Sept. 21,”
Beltran explained.
To further bring down prices,
Beltran urged the Bureau of Customs
to issue the implementing guidelines
to activate TradeNet.ph, which
would allow further streamlining of
importation. (BEN O. DE VERA, INQ)