Tarapur – Close to Shutdown?
“I have said that we will never take to nuclear weapons even if this country is going to be destroyed in the absence of (such weapons). I will not take to it, even if the whole world takes to it.” …
Philippine economy needs steady hand to keep recovery from going stagnant
20 January 1988 The Globe and Mail B24 English All material copyright Thomson Canada Limited or its licensors. All rights reserved. The Philippines has experienced its best growth in seven years, but it still faces a daunting array of problems. Analysts say President Corazon Aquino must now demonstrate that she can manage the economy. …
Envoy says US to maintain strong role in Philippine Economy
22 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 22, Reuter – The United States is committed to helping the Philippines achieve economic recovery by stepping up investments, keeping its doors open to imports, and maintaining the flow of aid, Ambassador Nicholas Platt said on Friday. He told a meeting of American…
Manila Charges USDA Delaying Sugar Re-Export Plan
22 January 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Jan 22 – Sugar industry officials said the Philippines might not be able to sell extra sugar to the U.S. because the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) was delaying the issue of guidelines for a re-export plan approved by the U.S. Congress. Sugar Regulatory Administration…
Manila Finance Minister Sees U.S. Bases as Debt Lever
1 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 1, Reuter – The Philippines is exploring ways of reducing its massive foreign debt burden and the two U.S. military bases in the country could be a possible bargaining lever, Finance Secretary Vicente Jayme said on Monday. Jayme told Reuters in an interview…
U.S. in Quandary Over Manila Sugar Re-Export Plan
8 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 8 – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng is in a quandary over a sugar re-export plan passed by the U.S. Congress doubling the Philippines’ sugar exports to the United States this year, a senior U.S. official said. Philippine officials said at the weekend…
Privatisation Proves to be Gordian Knot for Manila Trust
10 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 10, Reuter – A sword poised over a Gordian knot is the official symbol of the Philippine body charged with selling about 6.8 billion dollars in bad debts accumulated by the country’s two major government banks. “That’s an appropriate symbol for the work…
Philippines Bit player in debt reform-fernandez
19 February 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, Feb 19 – The Philippines’ 27.8 billion dollar foreign debt makes it a bit player in attempts to find solutions to the debt crisis and Manila prefers to let large debtors take the initiative, Central Bank Governor Jose Fernandez said. “I think anybody who…
USDA SEES PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE STAGNANT IN 1988
22 March 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, March 22, Reuter – Falling sugar and coconut production is expected to lead to little or no overall growth in Philippine agriculture in 1988, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its annual report on the Philippines. It forecast overall growth of 0.5 pct…
ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK STILL AWASH WITH FUNDS
20 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 20, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is still awash with funds, with liquid assets of 4.5 billion dollars, 74.2 pct of its undisbursed loan balances, at the end of 1987, Treasurer Alan Gill said in an interview. This compares with liquid…
MANILA’S DEBATED LAND REFORM PLEDGED 66 MLN DLRS
26 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 26, Reuter – The Philippines has received pledges of aid totalling 66 million dollars from the United States, the Netherlands and Italy to support its ambitious land reform program, Agrarian Reform Secretary Philip Juico told Reuters. The broad outline of the program was…
JAPAN-U.S. TUSSLE LIKELY TO DOMINATE ADB MEETING
27 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 27, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank annual meeting starting on Thursday is likely to be dominated by a power-struggle between Japan and the United States, officials said on Wednesday. ADB officials said the three-day meeting would also be marked by the presence…
AQUINO SAYS ADB LEADERSHIP SHOULD REMAIN ASIAN
28 April 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, April 28, Reuter – The Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting opened with a call from Philippine President Corazon Aquino to keep the bank’s leadership Asian and to temper its policy prescriptions. “(The bank) must continue to view banking, especially development banking, as a relationship…
PHILIPPINES SAYS IT WOULD WELCOME U.S. AID PLAN
9 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 9, Reuter – The Philippine government said on Monday it was awaiting information about a reported U.S. move to unveil a Marshall Plan-like aid package for this cash-strapped country. The Washington Post reported on Sunday the multinational plan involved aid of up to…
U.S. BASES IN PHILIPPINES STIR UP WAR OF WORDS
13 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 13, Reuter – The U.S. bases in the Philippines have sparked a superpower slanging match and stirred passionate debate about self-respect, alms-giving, sovereignty and subservience. Since April 5 when Manila-Washington talks on the future of the bases began, Philippine talk shows and newspaper…
PHILIPPINES NEEDS U.S. AID PACKAGE NOW, MINISTER SAYS
17 May 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, May 17, Reuter – The Philippines needs a U.S.-sponsored multi-billion dollar aid plan immediately if it is to grow economically and reduce its heavy debt repayments, Economic Planning Secretary Solita Monsod said. The Washington Post said last week the U.S. will try to put…
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…
PHILIPPINES WELCOMES U.S. SUGAR QUOTA INCREASE
26 July 1988 Reuters News English (c) 1988 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 26, Reuter – The Philippines welcomes a decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to increase its 1988 sugar import quota to 158,640 short tons from 110,600 tons, Agriculture Secretary Carlos Dominguez said. “We welcome the opportunity … and we will try…
Vietnam urges Bush to build on Clinton’s work
29 May 2001 Reuters News English (c) 2001 Reuters Limited HANOI, May 29 (Reuters) – Vietnam urged President George Bush on Tuesday to build on Bill Clinton’s work In normalising ties with Hanoi by sending a trade deal to Congress for ratification. Vice Foreign Minister Chu Tuan Cap told Reuters the historic market-opening pact signed…
Japan breathes easier on yen but danger lurks
20 August 1993 Reuters News English (c) 1993 Reuters Limited TOKYO, Aug 20 (Reuter) – The Japanese government heaved a sigh of relief on Friday after action by the United States yanked the yen back from a close brush with parity with the U.S. cent. But currency traders served notice that the rampant yen was…
INTERVIEW-Pakistan says US policies polarise world
14 April 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited ISLAMABAD, April 14 (Reuters) – Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, said on Monday American policies were polarising the world between Muslims and non-Muslims, and creating a highly charged and potentially violent atmosphere. Criticising the use of force against Iraq, Interior…
INTERVIEW-Washington’s Taiwan envoy bemoans rigid China
16 September 2003 Reuters News English (c) 2003 Reuters Limited TAIPEI, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Douglas Paal, Washington’s unofficial ambassador to Taipei, must choose his words carefully as he navigates the treacherous shoals of politics across the Taiwan Strait. Yet on the subject of SARS his language is unusually blunt. Faced with a medical…
Last Word
Ear to the Ground
This mid-December afternoon, the Ear detects the rumble of Old Man 76 gasping through his last lap, and the first stirrings of Childe 77. Here are some optimistic predictions for the twelvemonth ahead disregarding the doomsday projections of Malthusian midwives who expect 1977 to be stillborn: The Labor Party in Britain will label Margaret “Thatcher…
Losing Voice
English with an American accent, there were jokes about being the “51st US state”, the US military had a huge presence, and the economy was heavily indebted to a consortium of mostly-American banks. Fifteen years later I was listening to a JP Morgan executive in an office in Makati, the business district in Manila, tell…
U.S. Bases Vital for Philippine Security, Official Warns
29 July 1987 English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, July 29, Reuter – U.S. military bases in the Philippines are vital to the security of both countries but America would respect any decision by Manila to remove them, a senior U.S. diplomat said today. “The bases are of vital importance,” U.S. Charge’ d’Affaires Philip Kaplan…
AQUINO NOT KEPT FULLY INFORMED OF BARCLAYS ROW, OFFICIAL SAYS
13 August 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Aug 13, Reuter – President Corazon Aquino was not kept fully Informed throughout a prolonged dispute between the Philippines and a consortium of Western banks, Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin told Reuters in an interview today. The dispute Involved a commercial debt incurred by a private fertiliser…
Two to Tango
From the Managing Editor An early breakfast is something that most journalists don’t care for. Most of my tribe skip it and among those who don’t, very few sip their coffee before 10 am. Like Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, we finish our days late and start them late, you see. It was, therefore, unusual for…
Breakout Companies
From the Editor Raghuram Govind Rajan is a lucky man. Two weeks into his new job as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India his friend Ben Bernanke, who he calls “cautious and nuanced” in his book Fault Lines, handed him a big gift- a delay in the “taper” in the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative…
Manila’s hot money flows from stocks to dollars
12 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 12 – Short-term speculators have switched their attention from Manila’s once bullish stock markets to a suddenly booming illegal trade in dollars, brokers and analysts said. They said the black market rate of the U.S. currency has risen alongside a progressive fall in…
Three Americans and Filipino shot dead near US Base
28 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 28, Reuter – Gunmen shot dead three Americans, including two airmen, and a Filipino near an U.S. air base on Wednesday and authorities immediately urged tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen and dependents in the Philippines to stay indoors. The four were killed…
U.S. Diplomat’s recall marks new low in ties with Philippines
28 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 28, Reuter – The recall of a U.S. military diplomat from the Philippines underlines the love-hate ties between the two countries but also points to a new direction in Manila’s foreign policy, analysts said on Wednesday. The U.S. Embassy’s announcement that Assistant Army…
US Defuses meddling row by pulling out attache from Manila
28 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 28, Reuter – The United States said on Wednesday it was withdrawing a military attache from the Philippines following accusations that he interfered in a failed coup attempt in August. A U.S. embassy statement said assistant army attache Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Raphael would depart…
Philippine hit-squad killings signal new communist offensive
29 October 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Oct 29, Reuter – Philippine Communist guerrillas appear to have launched a major offensive with the killings of 14 people in two days, political analysts said on Thursday. For the first time in the 18-year-old Communist insurgency, the victims included U.S. servicemen, two serving…
Philippines Expects Minimal U.S. Sugar Quota Cut
25 November 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Nov 25 – The Philippines has been warned that the United States is planning to slash its 1988 sugar import quota but is not very worried, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chairman Arsenio Yulo told Reuters in an interview. “The signal given to us is…
Envoy says communist attacks will boost U.S.-Philippine Ties
25 November 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Nov 25, Reuter – The communist rebel killings of three Americans near a U.S. military base in the Philippines last month will strengthen ties between the two countries and speed up aid from Washington, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. “These killings will have…
U.S. Sugar Quota cut worse than Thought- Manila
16 December 1987 Reuters News English (c) 1987 Reuters Limited MANILA, Dec 16 – A 23 pct cut in the 1988 U.S. sugar import quota for the Philippines is deeper than expected, but Manila is banking on a U.S. proposal to import extra sugar under a re-export plan, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Chairman Arsenio Yulo told…
Pulling Punches
From the Editor Why did god create stock-market analysts? To make weather forecasters look good, runs the rather puerile joke. But seriously, company analysis is an earnest business-in much of the world, that is, except India. I remember in my wire-service days we used to have lively debates on how to report stock price movements…
Washington is Starting to Look Like Delhi
British historian and Harvard University professor [Niall Ferguson] An erudite scholar, acclaimed author, and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, British historian Niall Ferguson wears several hats. At the India Today Conclave, Ferguson spoke on “American decline: Myth and Reality”. On the Sidelines of the Conclave, BT’s Chaitanya Kalbag,…
“India a $10 Billion Market in Five Years”
Edited excerpts of a conversation BT’s Chaitanya Kalbag and Josey Puliyenthuruthel had with GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt On the US economy Things are getting better in the United States. It’s a slow recovery, and some of that is based on how steep the crisis was, on consumer deleveraging, and the savings rate going…
Lean on Me
The US economy needs India more than ever, says Barack Obama had barely walked out of Parliament’s Central Hall when the debate began on whether his India visit was “transactional” or “strategic”. It was neither. Obama, accompanied by an unusually large contingent of CEOs, many of them small and medium businessmen, was in search of…
Nuts & Bolts-Democracy Dies in Darkness
At least in the United States, the light of a free press still shines bright The Washington post adopted this four-word slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” in February 2017, its first in 140 years. It was used by its owner Jeff Bezos in an interview to the paper’s managing editor several months earlier, before Donald…