OPINION | Ten economic issues to watch By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. READ:
By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr.his column continues to monitor many economic issues and developments. There are 10 topics tackled here.Last week, the Bureau of the Treasury released fiscal data for October 2022. The budget deficit has reached P1.1 trillion, interest payment alone is P43.3 billion/month average and likely to reach P520 billion by end of this year. Total outstanding public debt has reached P14 trillion, actual plus guaranteed.
SMC Global Power and its allies in media continue to demonize the ERC and the agency’s chairperson, Monalisa Dimalanta. There seems to be no acknowledgment by SMC that they made a big mistake in offering a low fixed-price power supply to Meralco which quickly defeated the bid prices of other power companies sometime in 2019 or 2020. Now SMC is turning its blame game on the Malampaya consortium — Prime Energy , UC38 , and the Philippine National Oil Co.
Those yellow alerts can scare potential investors from coming in. Consider also the numbers in Table 2. The main reason why the Philippines’ power prices are high compared to many of its neighbors in East Asia is because it has very low power generation, with low supply relative to demand.
I think the Philippines is wrong to focus on forcible low prices at the generation sector via a mandatory Competitive Selection Process. The country should focus on expanding its power supply and address the problems in the transmission sector like the absence of a firm contract for ancillary services by the transmission operator. If it does, prices will stabilize or decline on their own.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Morocco’s WC dream continues as team Portugal is eliminated - BusinessWorld OnlineDOHA — Morocco’s extraordinary run in Qatar continued on Saturday as they claimed another massive scalp in beating Portugal 1-0 to become the first African and Arab country to reach the World Cup (WC) semifinals.
Read more »
CSB forces winner-take-all Game 3 of NCAA S98 Finals - BusinessWorld OnlineCOLLEGE of St. Benilde (CSB) responded to coach Charles Tiu’s repeated pleas to play tough as it showed incredible grit lacking last time and humbled and tamed a once mighty Letran, 76-71, yesterday in forcing a deciding Game Three in NCAA Season 98 at the Ynares Center.
Read more »
NU sweeps DLSU for record-tying 7th straight crown - BusinessWorld OnlineNATIONAL University (NU) owned a page in the history books, posting its record-tying seventh straight championship with a statement sweep of rival De La Salle (DLSU) in the UAAP Season 85 women’s basketball finals on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Read more »
Russia drones smash power network in Ukraine’s Odesa - BusinessWorld OnlineKYIV — All non-critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian port of Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, leaving 1.5 million people without power, officials said on Saturday.
Read more »
China’s capital Beijing swings from anger over past COVID policies to coping with infections - BusinessWorld OnlineBEIJING — Beijing’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) gloom deepened on Sunday with many shops and other businesses closed, and an expert warned of many thousands of new coronavirus cases as anger over China’s previous COVID policies gave way to worry about coping with infections.
Read more »
Japan lawmaker in Taiwan says China’s threat needs higher military spending - BusinessWorld OnlineTAIPEI — Japan needs to increase its military spending in the face of the “grim reality” of the threat from China and North Korea, a senior member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said on Sunday during a visit to Taiwan.
Read more »