Philippine Stock Exchange: 2nd fastest growth rate in Asia

Manila, Philippines - Jan 10, 2005

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) share prices registered 15 percent growth in 2005, the second fastest growth rate in Asia, ahead of Singapore (13.61 percent), Thailand (6.83 percent) and Malaysia (0.84 percent).

"This means, we beat Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand; and our investors on average earned more than their counterparts in said countries last year," said Philippine Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Francis Lim. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index grew by 16.24 percent in 2005.

"We at the PSE always bear in mind that a healthy stock market acts as come-on for companies to raise needed capital by conducting an initial public offering and if companies have enough capital, they will open new businesses, which in turn will create employment opportunities for the Filipinos," Lim further noted.

"We are praying and hoping for continued political sobriety and maturity in our country, particularly among our leaders so that PSE may enjoy even higher growth rate this year," added Lim.

The market has so far been showing signs of strength since the start of the year due to the deluge of good developments in both the macro- and micro-economic environment.

Market sentiment has been buoyed by the continued strengthening of the peso, lower-than-expected inflation figure in December, and the country's successful bond issuance.

The National Statistics Office reported that December inflation reached 6.6 percent, lower than the expected range of 6.7 percent to 7.1 percent and significantly lower than the November figure of 7.1 percent.

This brought the full year inflation to 7.1 percent, higher than the 2004 level of 6.4 percent, but better than the government’s expectation of at least 7.7 percent.

Source: PNA

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