The Philippines Economy
Continues to Rise

MANILA PHILIPPINES - The Philippines economy continues to make significant progress under the leadership of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Foreign investment continues to pour in. Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of the world's leading PC maker, was just in the Philippines to open a call center and already announced the company's plan to double its work force before the end of 2006.

The Philippine stock market has hit its highest level in nearly seven years.

The country is also gettting credit rating upgrades from financial analysts.

The Philippine peso is now the "darling" currency in Asia. It is up by about 4% against the dollar, making it one of the strongest performers in the region. Much of its gains is due to the remittances of Filipinos working overseas - that reached over $10 Billion last year - and the continuous inflow of foreign investments.

"The Philippines is on the radar screen of investors and is benefiting from the liquidity flows into emerging markets," says Alex Pomento, head of research at Macquarie Securities in Manila.

Around 70 per cent of the US$20 million average daily turnover on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) comes from foreign investment funds, he notes.

The Philippine government aims to balance the Budget in 2008.

ATR-Kim Eng's Mr Lorenzo says that so far the government is comfortably meeting monthly Budget targets.

"The implementation of fiscal reforms is vital; investors really want to see them bearing fruit," he said.

3/27/2006

Source: The Straits Times

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