Factory hiring still weak despite higher PMI By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
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ESPITE the strong performance of manufacturing firms in January 2023, Standard & Poors (S&P) Global Market Intelligence noted that hiring activities of Philippine factories “remained weak.” Based on S&P’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the Filipino manufacturers’ output was at 53.5 in January 2023. The PMI was at 53.1 in December 2022. S&P Global said rising business requirements did not allow manufacturing firms to increase the intake of workers. The season-
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ally adjusted index edged close to the 50 neutral mark in January. “[The neutral mark indicates that] only a fractional rise in employment during January. Mentions of layoffs and resignations limited the pace of job creation,"”S&P Global said. However, close to two-thirds of the panelists in the survey anticipated higher output in the coming 12 months compared to just 1 percent that were downbeat. “Overall, the continued positive performance of the manufacturing sector in January resulted in higher levels of optimism across surveyed businesses. Improving from a four-month low in Decem-
ber, the degree of confidence was stronger than the historical average,” S&P Global said. In January, S&P Global said the manufacturing output in the Philippines posted its highest level in seven months and the third consecutive month of growth on the back of strong demand and aggressive monetary policy. S&P said this performance benefited from cooling inflation with input price and output charge inflation registering the slowest in 24 and 15 months, respectively. “Overall, strong domestic demand fed into higher optimism for the year ahead. Moreover, the lack of Covid restrictions, greater
investment in new products and undertaking new projects aided hopes of a prosperous year for the Filipino manufacturing sector,” S&P Global Market Intelligence economist Maryam Baluch said. “The data also suggested that the aggressive monetary stance taken by the central bank has been effective as further signs of easing price pressures were recorded in January. Encouragingly, demand has yet to be impacted negatively by policy changes,” she added. Baluch said there was a sharp increase in output and new orders, suggesting that there is
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Thursday, February 2, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 110
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DOF HAS ASSET LIST FOR SALE TO SEED MIF–DIOKNO n
SENATOR Mark Villar, who chairs the Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, opens the Senate hearings on the Maharlika Investment Fund, jointly with the Committees on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises, Ways and Means and Finance. At right, one of Wednesday’s key resource persons was Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno. Stories on the MIF on A1, A16 and B3. ROY DOMINGO
By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas
F
INANCE Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno on Wednesday listed more possible assets that the government could sell, including the Mile Long property, to bankroll the proposed sovereign wealth fund of the country.
In a Senate hearing on the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), Diokno disclosed, in reply to Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, that the Department of Finance (DOF) has a list of the possible government assets that
can be sold to finance the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), which the House of Representatives approved and is pending in the Senate.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 54.5710
PET FOOD SALES IN PHL SEEN TO RISE TO $434M
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ALES of pet food in the Philippines is projected to grow by 9 percent on an annual basis to a record high of $434 million, driven by the growing number of dog and cat owners nationwide, an international agency said. The United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila (USDA-FAS Manila) said that pet food consumption in the Philippines increased as more Filipinos adopted more dogs
and cats during the pandemic. “While people were confined to their homes during the pandemic, dog and cat adoptions increased and pet food consumption grew,” the USDA-FAS Manila said in its latest Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report. The USDA-FAS Manila noted that the Philippines ranks fifth in the world in See “Pet,” A2
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n JAPAN 0.4195 n UK 67.2369 n HK 6.9605 n CHINA 8.0809 n SINGAPORE 41.5463 n AUSTRALIA 38.4944 n EU 59.2859 n KOREA 0.0443 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.5414
Source: BSP (February 1, 2023)