INDIA WILL ASK IMF FOR MORE FUNDS – MINISTER

13 April 1992 Reuters News English (c) 1992 Reuters Limited  TOKYO, Reuters – India intends to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for more contingency funds, although foreign reserves are at a very comfortable level, Finance Minister Manmohan Singh said.  Singh, who has spearheaded a series of sweeping reforms that have turned India’s socialist economic…

Pressure to Act Soon/Land Reform Issue Splits Aquino Aides 

21 May 1987  The San Francisco Chronicle  Manila  President Corazon Aquino’s ambitious plan to distribute land to more than half the country’s peasants is in danger of falling victim to the Philippines’ return to full legislative democracy.  Pressure has been mounting on Aquino to use her sweeping legislative powers and sign the Accelerated Land Reform…

Philippine Central Bank Chief Sees Health Growth in 1987

2 June 1987  Reuters News English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, June 2, Reuter – The Philippine economy’s impressive growth in this year’s first quarter suggests the government’s ambitious economic targets are within reach, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said today.  “I don’t see anything on the horizon that should cut (growth) short,” Fernandez said…

Philippines Revises Reform Plan, Puts Off Land Distribution

3 June 1987  Reuters News English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, June 3, Reuter – The latest draft of the Philippines’ ambitious land reform program delays final land distribution until 1997, details options for compensating landowners, and holds out imprisonment for violators.  Teodoro Benigno, spokesman for President Corazon Aquino, told reporters a cabinet meeting today…

Manila Bank Closure Exposes Strains in Philippine System

8 July 1987  Reuters News  English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, June 8, Reuter – The closure last month of the Manila Banking Corporation, one of the Philippines‘ nine largest banks, highlights the weaknesses still plaguing the country’s financial institutions, bankers and analysts said today.  Manila Bank was declared insolvent by the Central Bank of…

Land Bank Chief Criticises Philippine Land Ceiling

11 June 1987  Reuters News  English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, June 11 – Proposed land reforms that would limit all holdings in the Philippines to seven hectares are likely to scare away private entrepreneurs, said Deogracias Vistan, president of the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines.  The government should carefully study minimum land needs…

Row Intensifies Over Philippine Oil Privatisation

 23 July 1987  Reuters News English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, July 23 – A row over the proposed privatisation of Petron Corp, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Philippine National Oil Co (PNOC), intensified as the Committee on Privatisation (COP) said overwhelming arguments favour the sale.  PNOC’s board of directors last month opposed Petron’s sale,…

Protests Mount Over Aquino’s Land Reform Program

23 July 1987 Reuters News English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, July 23, Reuter – Protests by both landowners and poor farmworkers mounted today over the Philippines’ land reform program, while the country’s new Congress threatened to review all decrees signed by President Corazon Aquino.  Hours after Aquino signed the land reforms into law yesterday,…

Philippine Minister Attacks Call for Debt Repudiation

7 August 1987   Reuters News   English   (c) 1987 Reuters Limited   MANILA, Aug 7, Reuter – The growing call in the Philippines for a repudiation of some of the country’s 28.4 Billion dollar foreign debt was strongly attacked today by the finance minister and the leader of an influential business group.  Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin told reporters…

Philippine Landowners warn of violence over reforms

25 August 1987  Reuters News  English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, Aug 25, Reuter – A major coalition of Philippine landowners today labelled President Corazon Aquino’s land reforms “communistic” and said violence might erupt if the program was pushed through.  “This is a polarisation of classes,” Eduardo Hernandez, chairman of the Council of Agricultural Producers,…

Philippines Worried About Commodity Prices

9 November 1987  Reuters News  English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, Nov 9 – Any fall in commodity prices resulting from the crash in world stock markets could badly affect the Philippines, Central Bank governor Jose Fernandez said.  “Probably far more important than exchange rates and interest rates are commodity prices,” he told reporters. ‘Because then…