Philippine Asian News Today Vol 19 No 13 | Page 12

BUSINESS NEWS
12
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY July 1 - 15, 2017
Duterte discounts’ affecting
PH economy
The
Philippines
is
suffering from a presidential
discount.
Local
equities
have delivered poor returns
during the first year in office
of President Duterte. That
suggests little positive regard
for the hard-nosed leader’s
solid economic agenda.
The country is in strong
financial shape. Despite
a bit of a slowdown in the
first quarter, the World Bank
forecasts annual economic
growth of almost 7 percent
this year and next, consumer
confidence among the young
population has hit an all-time
high, and government debt
relative to GDP is the lowest
in three decades.
Duterte’s plan to boost
infrastructure
spending
and to cut income tax
offers further reasons to be
optimistic. Building more
roads and airports should
help the sprawling local
listed conglomerates. And
putting more money into
citizens pockets, will benefit
PNT Foreign Exchange
$1.00 Cdn = P39.23 Php
$1.00 US = P 50.63
€1.00 EUR = P 58.08
₤1.00 GBP = P 65.03
D1.00 BHD= P 134.09
fast moving consumer goods
players.
Robust
popular
support also means there is
a high chance Duterte can
push through his planned
overhaul.
Yet, those who invested
when Duterte took office
on June 30, 2016, have
been stung. The peso has
fallen more than 7 percent
against the dollar during the
president’s tenure and total
shareholder returns from the
MSCI Philippines have been
virtually flat.
Both indicators have
lagged
the
comparable
performance
for
major
Southeast Asian peers.
True, Philippine stocks
are already similarly priced
to regional peers. The latest
comparable data from IBES
indices on Thomson Reuters
shows local equities trade on
a forward price to earnings
multiple of 16.9 times,
compared to 16.1 times for
Indonesia and 14.7 times for
Thailand. But the Philippines
is growing much faster than
these countries. India has
a comparable growth rate
R1.00 SAR = P 13.49
¥1.00 JPY= P 0.45
and its stocks command a
multiple of 18.2 times.
Of course, it is hard to
focus on the broad economic
prospects and real reforms
when Duterte is pressing on
with his controversial bloody
war on drugs and martial
law has been declared in
a southern province of the
country amid an insurgency
by militants linked to the
Islamic State. As long as there
are such messy distractions,
the Philippines will wait for
a premium. – (Reuters ,
Malaya)
Peso recovers, closes at 50.53 to a dollar
Recovering from the
previous day’s low close, the
peso strengthened consider-
ably against the dollar, clos-
ing at 50.53 yesterday.
The
local
currency
touched an intraday low of
50.87 after opening at 50.75
before climbing to 50.53, The
peso closed the previous day
at 50.695 to $1.
Total volume traded at
the Philippine Dealing System
surged to $629 million from
Monday’s $439 million.
ING Bank Manila s