Day: July 20, 2021

​The banking industry leaders continue to view the outlook of the banking system as stable with expectations of double-digit growth in assets, loans, investments, deposits, and net income for the next two (2) years.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno noted that “The upbeat expectations of the banking system based on the results of the Banking Sector Outlook Survey (BSOS) for the first semester of 2021 is testament to its confidence in the strong medium-term prospects of the country’s economy.”

Philippine banks also intend to maintain their Basel capital and liquidity ratios at levels higher than domestic and global standards to promote institutional stability and strengthen capacity to support requirements of a growing economy.

Meanwhile, majority of the survey respondents expect their non-performing loan ratio (NPL) to exceed five percent in the next two years. Universal and commercial banks see their NPL ratio settling between 3.0 percent and 6.5 percent in the next two (2) years.  This is, however, accompanied by greater prudence in the management of credit risk by the industry as higher number of banks intend to report NPL coverage ratio of more than 50.0 percent to 100.0 percent.

BSP Governor Diokno added that “The banks’ projections are consistent with the BSP’s NPL estimates for the year 2021.  The enactment of the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer Act as well as the issuance of its implementing rules and regulations in the first semester of 2021 will help limit build-up of NPLs in the financial system.”

Banks also anticipate restructured loans ratio to be higher than 5.0 percent from earlier projections of between 3.0 percent to 5.0 percent of loans.  This reflects continued efforts of banks to grant financial relief to their borrowers through modifications in their loan payment terms.

Banks recognize the need to integrate technology in achieving business objectives and disclosed that they will continue to prioritize the digitalization of products and services for strategic efficiency in the next two years. Moreover, mindful of cyberthreats following the lockdown and remote working arrangements, more than half of the respondent banks are ‘prepared’ to handle and manage cyberthreats.

Lastly, the survey results showed a distinct shift in organizational focus towards sustainable financing. A high proportion of banks consistently view sustainable financing as an important strategic objective. As such, around 71.3 percent of respondents plan to finance sustainable projects on agriculture, transportation, water supply management, and solar power in the next two (2) years.

The Philippine banking system is projected to withstand the legacy risks and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic within the next two years on account of its stable and sound capital and liquidity buffers, ample loan loss reserves, good earnings performance and prudent risk governance.

The BSOS provides insights of bank management on the strategic direction of the industry and emerging risks and trends. This is part of BSP’s surveillance tools in promoting the resilience of the banking system.

 

Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

Muslims around the world were observing Tuesday yet another major Islamic holiday in the shadow of the pandemic and amid growing concerns about the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.

 

Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” is typically marked by communal prayers, large social gatherings, slaughtering of livestock and giving meat to the needy. This year, the holiday comes as many countries battle the delta variant first identified in India, prompting some to impose new restrictions or appeal for people to avoid congregating and follow safety protocols.

 

The pandemic has already taken a toll for the second year on a sacred mainstay of Islam, the hajj, whose last days coincide with Eid al-Adha. Once drawing some 2.5 million Muslims from across the globe to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the pilgrimage has been dramatically scaled back due to the virus.

 

This year’s hajj has been limited to 60,000 vaccinated Saudi citizens or residents of Saudi Arabia. On Tuesday, pilgrims wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, performed the symbolic stoning of the devil in the valley area of Mina — using sterilized pebbles they received ahead of time.

 

“This is (a) very, very, very big moment for us, for me especially,” said pilgrim Arya Widyawan Yanto, an Indonesian living in Saudi Arabia. He added that he was happy he had the chance to perform the pilgrimage. “Everything was conducted under very strict precautions.”

 

Yanto said he hoped for the pandemic to end and for all Muslims to be able to perform the pilgrimage in a safe way.

 

Indonesia marked a grim Eid al-Adha amid a devastating new wave of coronavirus cases in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, also an influential Islamic cleric, appealed to people to perform holiday prayers at home with their families.

 

“Don’t do crowds,” Amin said in televised remarks ahead of the start of the holiday. “Protecting oneself from the COVID-19 pandemic is obligatory.”

 

The surge is believed to have been fueled by travel during another holiday — the Eid al-Fitr festival in May — and by the rapid spread of the delta variant.

 

In Malaysia, measures have been tightened after a sharp spike in infections despite a national lockdown since June 1 — people are banned from traveling back to their hometowns or crossing districts to celebrate. House visits and customary trips to graveyards are also banned.

 

Healthy worshippers are allowed to gather for prayers in mosques, with strict social distancing and no physical contact. Ritual animal sacrifice is limited to mosques and other approved areas.

 

Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah has urged Malaysians not to “repeat irresponsible behavior,” adding that travel and celebrations during Eid al-Fitr and another festival on the island of Borneo led to new clusters of cases.

 

“Let us not in the excitement of celebrating the Feast of Sacrifice cause us all to perish because of COVID-19,” he said in a statement.

 

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin urged Muslims to stay home. “I appeal to you all to be patient and abide by the rules because your sacrifice is a great jihad in Allah’s sight and in our effort to save lives,” he said in a televised speech on the eve of the festival.

 

The World Health Organization has reported that globally, COVID-19 deaths had climbed after a period of decline. The reversal has been attributed to low vaccination rates, relaxed mask rules and other precautions, and the delta variant.

 

Lockdowns will severely curtail Eid al-Adha festivities in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s two largest cities.

 

Sydney resident Jihad Dib, a New South Wales state government lawmaker, said the city’s Muslims were sad but understood why they would be confined to their homes with no visitors allowed.

 

“It’s going to be the first Eid in my life I don’t hug and kiss my mum and dad,” Dib told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

 

Iran on Monday imposed a week-long lockdown on the capital, Tehran, and the surrounding region as the country struggles with another surge in the coronavirus pandemic, state media reported. The lockdown begins on Tuesday.

 

Not everyone is imposing new restrictions. In Bangladesh, authorities have allowed an eight-day pause in the country’s strict lockdown for the holiday that health experts say could be dangerous.

 

In Egypt, Essam Shaban travelled to the southern province of Sohag to spend Eid al-Adha with his family. He said ahead of the start of the holiday that he planned to pray at a mosque there on Tuesday while taking precautions such as bringing his own prayer rug and wearing a mask.

 

“We want this Eid to pass by peacefully without any infections,” he said. “We must follow instructions.”

 

Shaban had been looking forward to pitching in with his brothers to buy a buffalo for slaughtering, going door-to-door to give some of the meat to the poor and to the traditional festive meal later in the day with his extended family.

 

“It’s usually boisterous with laughter and bickering with the kids,” he said. “It’s great.”

But others will be without loved ones.

 

In India, where Eid al-Adha starts Wednesday, Tahir Qureshi would always go with his father for prayers and then to visit family and friends. His father died in June after contracting the virus during a surge that devastated the country, and the thought of having to spend the holiday without him is heartbreaking.

 

“It will be difficult without him,” he said.

 

India’s Muslim scholars have been urging people to exercise restraint and adhere to health protocols. Some states have restricted large gatherings and are asking people to observe the holiday at home.

 

Meanwhile the pandemic’s economic fallout, which threw millions of Indians into financial hardship, has many saying they cannot afford to buy sacrificial livestock.

 

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, a disputed, Muslim-majority region, businessman Ghulam Hassan Wani is among those cutting back.

 

“I used to sacrifice three or four sheep, but this year we can hardly afford one,” Wani said.

 

Source: Voice of America

Anger is building at the administration of Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha for a slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which has left just 5% of Thais inoculated amid the deadliest wave of the coronavirus pandemic to hit the country, and as health officials warn the worst is yet to come.

 

Thailand reached a record caseload of 11,305 Tuesday, adding scores to the grim death toll — 3,408 since April — in a kingdom that had won praise for snuffing out the pandemic in earlier rounds.

 

The resurgence since April has revived the political challenge to Prayuth, who seized power in a 2014 coup, and who last year survived months of raucous pro-democracy protests, smothering the movement with legal charges and a heavy police response.

 

Even senior medical experts now concede the kingdom was caught flat-footed by the latest wave of infections and has overseen a sluggish vaccine rollout, with only an estimated 3.5 million of its 70 million population fully vaccinated so far.

 

“We ordered vaccines too slowly,” Prasit Watanpana, dean of faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital who also holds an unpaid board position with Siam Bioscience — a company owned by Thailand’s powerful monarch that holds the local license to make the AstraZeneca vaccine — said Sunday in a Clubhouse chatroom.

 

“We thought we had everything under control.”

 

Back to the streets

 

As the surging virus threatens a government pledge to reopen the kingdom to key tourists by October, protesters are back on Bangkok’s streets.

 

More than 1,000 people on Sunday defied a near-complete lockdown of the capital and an emergency order banning gatherings of five or more people to demand the government resign.

 

Protesters burning effigies of Prayuth near Government House were met by tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets fired by riot police.

 

The demonstrators say the fumbled vaccine rollout is the ultimate example of Prayuth’s anemic administration of the country.

They also want the government to shift money from its defense budget and to buy mRNA vaccines to replace the Chinese-made Sinovac — which is widely seen as inferior inside Thailand.

 

“COVID has exposed the Thai governing system: hierarchy, nepotism, patronage,” Attapon Buapat, a pro-democracy protest leader told VOA news.

 

Thailand’s richest conglomerate, which operates convenience stores, is among one of Sinovac’s shareholders, via a stake in another company, adding to widespread mistrust of the brand.

 

Meanwhile, local production of Astra-Zeneca has been inexplicably delayed despite its royal backing, threatening agreements to distribute the vaccine across Southeast Asia.

 

“It’s been exhausting fighting with the government this past year… but it’s worth it, because people are starting to wake up now,” protest leader Attapon said of a growing consensus among citizens historically divided along pro and anti-establishment lines.

 

‘Work for your people’

 

Analysts say the resurgent caseloads have moved older conservatives to find rare common cause with the pro-democracy camp.

 

“While the young protesters did not broaden their reform movement to include older demographics, the pandemic is doing it for them,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at the Institute of Security and International Studies Faculty of Political Science Chulalongkorn University.

 

“The Prayuth government’s pandemic mismanagement is broadening the kinds of grievances we saw last year. It is building up into a political maelstrom.”

 

The vaccine fiasco has created a torrent across Thai social media, reaching millions of people trapped at home, many unable to register for an inoculation because of shortages and government websites and apps crashing under the burden of massive public demand.

 

Health authorities said Tuesday the government has signed a belated deal with Pfizer to procure 20 million doses by the end of this year—and double that amount in 2022.

 

“I assure you that the government has never sat around when it comes to procuring the vaccines,” embattled Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on his official Facebook page after the Pfizer deal was penned.

 

“Rest assured that it’s our policy to procure vaccines of good quality by our set timeline.”

 

But government blame is mounting with each passing day, as Thais increasingly feel they are fighting the pandemic alone.

 

“I am lucky to be standing here while many of my countrymen cannot travel,” Thai filmmaker Apichartpong Weerasethakul said in his acceptance speech in Cannes, where he won the Jury Prize for Memoria.

 

“Many of them suffer greatly from the pandemic with the mismanagement of resources, health care, and vaccine accessibility,” he said, urging the Thai government to “please wake up, and work for your people — now.”

 

 

Source: Voice of America

KABUL– Fighting between Afghan government forces and the Taliban militants continued last night, amid Afghans’ preparation to celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, which falls today.

 

In the latest move against the Taliban advances, government forces recaptured Dara-e-Suf Bala district, in northern Samangan province, yesterday, police and army said.

 

However, the Taliban, in response, overran Dihrawud district, in the southern Uruzgan province, without any casualties reported.

 

Confirming the fall of the district, Uruzgan’s provincial governor, Mohammad Omar Shirzad, said that, the security forces stationed in Dihrawud, had retreated and reached the provincial capital, Tirin Kot, early yesterday.

 

In addition to Dihrawud, the Talibans also overran Nijrab, in the eastern Kapisa province and Chakhansur in the western Nimroz province, over the past 24 hours.

 

Government forces also evicted the militants from Malistan, in eastern Ghazni and Surkhparsa district, in Parwan province, over the period, according to officials.

 

Taliban fighters, according to security officials, intensified pressures on Taluqan city, the provincial capital of Takhar province, Kunduz city, the provincial capital of Kunduz province, Shiberghan city, the capital of Jawzjan province, Kandahar city, the capital of Kandahar province and Ghazni city, the capital of eastern Ghazni province.

 

A total of 967 militants, according to security officials, have been killed and more than 500 others injured, over the past four days across Afghanistan. However, Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, rejected the claim as baseless.

 

Taliban leader, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, in a message on Eid al-Adha, called for finding political solution for the crisis, and expressed hope for Afghans to celebrate the festival in a peaceful environment.

 

Afghan Defence Minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, in his message on the eve of Eid al-Adha, denounced the ongoing war, saying, “war is not the solution,” and called upon the Taliban to choose for peace, through negotiation.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Heavy rainfall forced the subway system in Zhengzhou, capital of China’s Henan province, to shut down Tuesday, stranding passengers.

Riders posted videos on social media as they awaited rescue in waist-high muddy waters. A passenger named Xiaopei posted on Weibo that “the water in the carriage has reached (their) chest.”

Around 300 people have been rescued so far, and an unknown number remain trapped.

Local media outlets report that train floodwaters were lowering.

Henan province, home to about 94 million people, experienced severe rains through the past week. On Tuesday, the region’s meteorological station issued the highest threat level, a red warning, as rains are expected to continue for the next 24 hours, Reuters reported.

A representative of the city of Xu Liyi, a member of the Standing Committee of Henan Provincial Party Committee, and Secretary of the Zhengzhou Municipal Party Committee said the high levels of rainfall were unusual.

Extreme weather events have surged this summer in China, with recent flooding in Sichuan province killing hundreds of citizens and forcing thousands to evacuate the area. Officials of Greenpeace International, an environmental group, warn that China’s rapid urbanization will increase the frequency of climate disasters.

Speaking to the Chinese media, Liu Junyan of Greenpeace said “because of the highly concentrated population, infrastructure and economic activity, the exposure and vulnerability of climate hazards are higher in urban areas.”

 

 

Source: Voice of America