Stock News 2011: Meralco says customers to see lower bills

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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported over the weekend that banks' non-performing loans (NPL) ratio last year dipped further to 2.88 percent, lower than end-2009's 2.97 percent due to the industry's improving capital health.

The end-December NPL ratio was also the lowest recorded ratio for universal and commercial banks since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, said the BSP, and the 27th consecutive month that the NPL ratio has been below four percent.

BSP in a statement said the NPL ratio eased by 0.19 percentage point compared to November's 3.07 percent and by 0.09 percentage point from the previous year's ratio.

Improvement to the ratio resulted from the 3.04 percent drop in total NPLs of P80.8 billion from P83.33 billion in November and the 3.34 percent growth in total loan portfolio of P2.8 trillion in December from P2.71 trillion a month before. NPLs are loans that have remained unpaid for 90 days

At the end of December, provisioning for bad loans led to the NPL coverage ratio improving to 118.35 percent from November's 116.53. The non-performing assets (NPA) coverage ratio widened to 60.04 percent from 59.68 percent in the previous month. Year-on-year, the BSP said NPL and NPA coverage ratios increased reference ratios of 112.34 percent and 54.88 percent, respectively. Total NPAs amounted to P205.5 billion.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/306536/bank

Stock News 2010: Inflation rate picks up pace in Nov. at 3%

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MANILA, Philippines – Inflation in the Philippines picked up pace in November, exceeding both central bank and market expectations due to the higher cost of home repairs, fuel and energy and services.

Even so, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco said the surprise increase in the consumer price index won't alter the central bank's current accommodative monetary stance, at least until the end of the year.

The National Statistics Office Tuesday said the CPI, the country's main inflation barometer, rose by 3.0% in November from the year-earlier level, faster than the central bank's forecast of between 2.0% and 2.9% and the 2.5% median forecast of 10 economists in a Dow Jones Newswires poll.

The November CPI was up 0.8% from October, when the index declined 0.2% from September.

Inflation averaged 3.8% in the 11 months to November, still at the lower end of the central bank's target of between 3.5% and 5.5% for this year.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy items, stood at 3.5% on year in November, up from 3.3% in October.

"Our current assessments still show that inflation would remain manageable during the policy horizon and that inflation expectations continue to be well-anchored," Tetangco told reporters in a text message.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/291530/inflation-rate-pick