PBBM to ‘soft launch’ MIF at World Economic Forum By Samuel P. Medenilla
D
World | A13
Battle rages in Ukraine town; Russia shakes up its military
ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion
@sam_medenilla
ESPITE the bill for its creation still pending in Congress, the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) will already be “soft launched” by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland next
week to help attract more investments in the country. During his briefing with DFA for his Davos trip, Marcos disclosed he wanted to include the ongoing government efforts to create its own Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) in his presentation before business leaders at the WEF. The MIF, which is patterned after the SWFs of other countries, is
aimed at allowing the government to increase investments in priority sectors, particularly in infrastructure, power; and agriculture. Business leaders opposed the creation of the MIF since it could negatively affect the country’s credit rating, while labor groups are against it since it can take away government funds from much needed public services.
Broad strokes
In a press conference in Malacañang last Thursday, DFA Undersecretary Carlos D. Soretta said the President’s discussion on the MIF at the WEF will only be in “broad strokes” since the bill for its creation is still “evolving” in Congress. See “PBBM,” A2
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
BSP: CUT IN RRR BEFORE END-JUNE VERY LIKELY T www.businessmirror.com.ph
n
Friday, January 13, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 90
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 24 pages | 7 days a week
By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
‘Unjustified’ mark-up cited for retail egg prices uptick
@jearcalas
HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may slash the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) before the end of the first half if inflation starts to slow down.
BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said the “likelihood” of the RRR cut happening before the end of June is “quite high.” Medalla reiterated that they did not want to slash the RRR while the BSP is raising the interest rates so as not to confuse the market with its policy signals. “It is hard to raise interest rates and cut reserve requirements. We should be able to do that because we can offset the cut in the RRR by increasing our borrowings,” he said in a television interview on Thursday. “But given our situation, the last thing you want to do is to confuse the signals, so therefore when we are no longer under pressure to raise policy rates, then we will cut the RRR,” he added. Medalla pointed out that it is not “healthy” to have a 12-percent RRR. Furthermore, Medalla explained that it is even more imperative to slash the RRR since the BSP has to end the temporary relief it extended to banks in meeting the RRR soon. “We also had temporary relief measures, the loans to MSMEs as fulfillment of RRR. That is going to end and we have to replace that with whatever permanent measure, which is a cut in the RRR,” he explained. See “BSP,” A2
T
CELESTIAL BEAUTY Miss Universe Philippines Celeste Cortesi dazzles in the preliminary round of the 71st Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in New Orleans, Wednesday, January 11, 2023. From left, evening gown competition; at center, she wears a national costume inspired by popular Filipina superheroine “Darna”; at right, she competes in the swimsuit session. TROI SANTOS
HE uptick in local retail egg prices is caused by the “unjustified” mark-up by middlemen and retailers, the Philippine Egg Board Association (PEBA) said. “When you say that the retail price of eggs is now between P9 to P10 per piece, then it indicates the huge mark-up by middlemen and retailers,” PEBA Chairman Gregorio San Diego told a recent forum organized by the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. San Diego pointed out that the current mark-up by retailers, which is about P2 per egg, from the farm-gate price is already “too much.” The prevailing farm-gate price of medium egg is at P6.7 to P7.2 per piece. “We think that is too much because before from the farmgate price, the mark-up is only [in] See “Unjustified,” A2
Onion sale at Kadiwa temporarily halted
T
HE Department of Agriculture (DA) temporarily stopped the sale of P170per-kilogram onion in its Kadiwa stores after its memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) expired recently. Agriculture Assistant Secretary Kristine Y. Evangelista said the DA's MOA with FTI expired last December 31 and the department had to dispose of the remaining supplies under the old agreement in the past weeks. Evangelista said the DA is still studying the possibility of renewing its partnership with FTI through a supplemental MOA. The halt to the sale of cheaper onions in Kadiwa stories comes a few days after the Ombudsman
PESO exchange rates n US 54.9280
opened an investigation regarding the alleged overpriced purchase by DA and FTI of onions from a local multipurpose cooperative. “We will work on that,” Evangelista told reporters on Thursday when asked how soon the Kadiwa onion stocks would be replenished. “We will help our consumers as long as we do not see the onion prices hitting below our target. This will be discussed with FTI,” Evangelista added. Evangelista explained that they expect onion prices to be cheaper in the coming weeks due to the arrival of imported stocks and upcoming local harvest. Nonetheless, Evangelista disclosed that the DA is also exhausting all possible options to restock
onion in Kadiwa stores through the “most prudent” way. “We are exploring all options, whichever would be the best to have the stocks replenished, the soonest and the most prudent way,” she said. The retail price of local red onion has consistently declined in recent days after the agriculture department announced that it has authorized the importation of 21,060 metric tons (MT) of onions last Monday. Based on its latest price monitoring report, the DA said the retail price of local red onion in Metro Manila wet markets is now ranging between P340 and P550 per kilogram, which used to be as much as over P700 per kilogram. See “Onion,” A2
n japan 0.4147 n UK 66.7155 n HK 7.0302 n CHINA 8.1195 n singapore 41.2869 n australia 37.8948 n EU 59.0970 n KOREA 0.0442 n SAUDI arabia 14.6256 Source: BSP (January 12, 2023)