BUSINESSMEN LASH OUT AT MANILA DEBT/EQUITY PROGRAM

18 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited  MANILA, April 18, Reuter – Filipino and foreign businessmen have launched a sharp attack on the Philippines’ 20-month-old debt/equity swap program, charging it is too restrictive and arbitrary and actually deters investors.  “Disillusioned investors are the worst possible advertisement for the Philippines,” said a statement…

Japanese says Indian bureaucracy very “inflexible” 

24 July 1997 Reuters News English  (c) 1997 Reuters Limited  NEW DELHI, July 24 (Reuters) – Japan is keen on expanding investment in India but finds its bureaucracy extremely inflexible, a senior Japanese official said on Thursday.  Nobuaki Tanaka, deputy director-general in Japan’s Foreign Ministry, said India accounts for a minuscule 0.25 percent of Japan’s…

PHILIPPINE BANKS SEEN LOSING OUT ON CURRENCY DEALS 

18 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited  MANILA, May 18, Reuter – Philippine banks are missing opportunities by restricting foreign exchange trading to U.S. dollars and not dealing in stronger currencies like the yen, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said.  He told Reuters in an interview that technically, commercial banks could buy or…

INDIA’S POLITICAL INSTABILITY SEEN SLOWING GROWTH

22 November 1989  Reuters News English  (c) 1989 Reuters Limited  NEW DELHI, NOV 22, Reuter – Political instability likely to result from this week’s elections could dangerously slow India’s economic growth, economic analysts said.  They said the new government could also face a resource crisis brought on by plunging foreign exchange reserves, unbridled domestic demand…

INSTABILITY SEEN SLOWING GROWTH IN RESOURCE-STRAPPED INDIA

22 November 1989  Reuters News  English  (c) 1989 Reuters Limited  NEW DELHI, Reuter – Political instability likely to result from this week’s elections could slow India’s growth dangerously, analysts said on Wednesday.  They said the new government would also face a resource crisis brought on by plunging foreign exchange reserves, unbridled domestic demand and a…

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…

JAPAN APPROVES $87 MILLION SPENDING PLAN 

29 August 1992 Los Angeles Daily News Valley  The Japanese government Friday approved an $87 billion spending package – the nation’s largest since World War II – in a bid to jolt the dormant economy back to life.  During a late-evening meeting, government ministers rubber-stamped the growth-boosting package totaling 10.7 trillion yen.  The massive package was in line…

Japan’s economy sinks deeper into mire

14 September 1993 Reuters News English (c) 1993 Reuters Limited  TOKYO, Sept 14 (Reuter) – Japan’s sickly economy has been contracting as its stubborn trade surplus balloons, government figures showed on Tuesday.  Gross national product (GNP) shrank 0.5 percent in the April/June quarter from the previous quarter after adjustment for inflation, the government’s Economic Planning…

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 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,…

Civilians Cheer as Fighting Rages at Manila Military Camp

28 August 1987  Reuters News  English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, Aug 28, Reuter – Buildings blazed and streets shook in Manila today in the capital’s heaviest fighting since World War Two.  “Advance, advance,” civilian spectators shouted to soldiers backing Corazon Aquino as they moved on comrades-in-arms dedicated to overturning the president’s government.  Gunfire cracked and…

Manila Coup Bid Seen Damaging Business Confidence

28 August 1987  Reuters News  English  (c) 1987 Reuters Limited  MANILA, Aug 28 – The Philippines’ latest coup attempt, the most violent in President Corazon Aquino’s 18 months in office, will severely affect business confidence and create renewed uncertainty for investors, analysts said.  Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin, asked for his reaction to the takeover of parts of…

CHANGE

From the Editor When I stepped into this role in mid-2010, it seemed India was unstoppable. Gross Domestic Product growth had averaged 8.5 per cent since 2004, when the United Progressive Alliance won power. The financial markets in the United States and Europe were in disarray after the US sub-prime crisis laid down a napalm…