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Sunday, August 4, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 292
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DISPLACED FISHERFOLK
REBUILD LIVES
AFTER DEMOLITION C
By Henry Empeño
ABANGAN, Zambales—With the onset of the typhoon season, more than a hundred families at the fishing community of Talisay in this town are literally digging in to rebuild their homes and restart the process of eking out livelihood from the sea. Continued on A2
A RELOCATEE pumps water near a house under construction at the Sitio Talisay relocation site. HENRY EMPEÑO
NEW CRUISE VISA WAIVER PROGRAM MAY COME UNDER MALACAÑANG SCRUTINY
CLARITA LADAO-BIAY, 75, and members of her family tell their story at their new home in the Sitio Talisay relocation site. HENRY EMPEÑO
ALVARO NANTONA, 83, weaves a fishing net at his seaside shack built from remnants of his demolished house in Sitio Talisay. HENRY EMPEÑO
Chinese authorities reject $1-trillion housing rescue plan pitched by IMF By Bloomberg News
ALEKSANDR ATKISHKIN VIA DREAMSTIME.COM
C
HINESE authorities have rejected a proposal made by the International Monetary Fund to use central government funds to complete unfinished housing, dealing a blow to hopes for more forceful support to an industry that’s been a major drag on the economy. The IMF called on China to deploy “one-off” fiscal resources to complete and deliver pre-sold properties or compensate homebuyers, according to an annual review of the world’s second-largest economy published Friday. It put the cost at the equivalent of 5.5% of gross domestic product over four years. That would amount to almost $1 trillion based on last year’s GDP, according to Bloomberg calculations. It’s a solution that China all but ruled out in an official response
included in the report. “We believe that we should continue to apply market-based and rule-of-law principles in completing and delivering these units,” said Zhang Zhengxin, the IMF’s executive director for China who was elected to the fund by the gov-
ernment in Beijing. “It would be inappropriate for the central government to directly provide fiscal support, as it could lead to expectation of future government bail-out and therefore moral hazards,” Zhang said. The IMF’s assessment hints
at the scale of the challenge facing China as it endures a prolonged housing downturn but remains reluctant to unleash a large fiscal stimulus or extend a lifeline to the market. The fund said it prepared the staff report in July following discussions with Chinese officials that ended in late May. Zhang’s comments are “somewhat disappointing,” said Michelle Lam, Greater China economist at Société Générale SA, arguing that the government will eventually need to deviate from its approach and step up policy support for the housing market if the situation continues to deteriorate.
Drag on economy
CHINA’S housing travails have emerged as the largest obstacle to growth over the past two years. Beijing’s approach has seemingly offered just enough help to
By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror
T
HE waiving of tourist visas for visiting cruise passengers is expected to be questioned by Malacañang, in the light of its order to suspend the issuance of electronic visas to Chinese citizens for security reasons. A high-ranking government source told the BusinessMirror the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), whose foreign posts issue tourist visas to international travelers who want to visit the Philippines, “was not consulted on the memorandum circular signed by the Bureau of Immigration (BI),” which implements the new cruise visa waiver program. According to the BI, Commissioner Norman Tansingco signed MC No. 2024-001 on January 25, 2024, which was then approved by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on March 14, 2024. The source pointed out that the new BI policy “may ultimately contravene the President’s instructions to pause e-visas for China,” even as DFA continues to process visitor visas with added security measures. BI is a unit of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and is tasked to protect the Philippines’ borders and ensure visiting foreign citizens comply with the country’s laws. BI had recently come under fire from several lawmakers for its alleged “negligence” in allowing illegal aliens to continue working in the Philippines, as the Senate continues its investigation into the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo), which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. banned, and gave a yearend deadline for winding down. Continued on A2
Continued on A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 58.3150 n JAPAN 0.3905 n UK 74.2933 n HK 7.4625 n CHINA 8.0479 n SINGAPORE 43.6490 n AUSTRALIA 37.8989 n EU 62.9452 n KOREA 0.0426 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.5411 Source: BSP (August 2, 2024)