Category: Trading

​During the new payment facility’s launch, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe M. Medalla (top left) underscored that Bills Pay PH promotes payments efficiency and supports economic growth. Bills Pay PH allows customers to pay bills conveniently and safely even if their bank or e-wallet accounts have different service providers than those of the billers. “Let us make the public confident that bills can easily be settled. When people are confident, usage will spread, and the economy will be a lot more efficient,” the Governor said. Top right photo shows BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tangonan (middle) in the live demonstration of a utility bill payment, while the bottom picture captures the Governor with BSP and Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) officials. Bills Pay PH is a joint project of the BSP and PPMI.

 

 

Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)

SINGAPORE— Singapore’s manufacturing output decreased 3.2 per cent in November 2022 on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, according to the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

 

On a three-month moving average basis, manufacturing output declined 0.7 per cent in November 2022, compared to a year ago, the government agency under the Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement issued here Friday.

 

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output decreased 1.2 per cent, the statement said.

 

As for the performance on a cluster basis, output for transport engineering grew 18.8 per cent yo-y in November 2022.

 

In the first eleven months of this year, output of the transport engineering cluster expanded 20.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2021.

 

On the performance of the other clusters, general manufacturing grew 10.3 per cent in November 2022. Cumulatively, the general manufacturing industries cluster expanded 12.3 per cent for the January to November 2022 period versus a year earlier.

 

The biomedical manufacturing cluster rose 6.9 per cent in November 2022 but overall, this cluster decreased 2.6 per cent in the first eleven months of 2022 versus the same period a year ago.

 

The precision engineering cluster went up 4.2 per cent in November with a 7.4 per cent gain on a year-to-date basis versus a year earlier.

 

However, output for chemicals cluster decreased 11.3 per cent; year-to-date the cluster declined 5.1 per cent.

 

The electronics cluster also fell 12.4 per cent in November, but on an 11-month basis between January and November 2022, electronics grew 2.4 per cent y-o-y, the statement said.

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KUALA LUMPUR— Malaysia’s inflation rate stood at 4.0 per cent in November 2022, unchanged from the preceding month, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) Friday.

 

The department said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November 2022 stood at 129.0 compared with 124.0 in November 2021.

 

Chief statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said inflation for the food group increased by 7.3 per cent and remained the main contributor to this month’s inflation, while restaurants and hotels edged up to 7.0 per cent from 6.8 per cent in October 2022.

 

“Slower increase was recorded for the transport group (5.0 per cent) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (3.8 per cent),” he said in a statement.

 

DoSM said other main groups which also recorded increases were recreation services and culture (3.6 per cent), miscellaneous goods and services (2.6 per cent), and education (1.5 per cent).

 

Meanwhile, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and health groups recorded an increase of 1.4 per cent, respectively, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco, as well as clothing and footwear, inclined 0.8 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively, against November 2021, it said.

 

“Core inflation registered an increase of 4.2 per cent in November 2022 as compared to the same month of the previous year, with the highest increase recorded by the food and non-alcoholic beverages group with 8.2 per cent,” it said.

 

Mohd Uzir said the inflation for the January to November 2022 period increased 3.4 per cent as compared to 2.3 per cent for the same period in 2021, mainly attributed to food and non-alcoholic beverages (5.6 per cent), transport (4.7 per cent), as well as restaurants and hotels (4.7 per cent).

 

He noted that the inflation rate for month-on-month in November 2022 inclined 0.3 per cent as compared to 0.2 per cent recorded in October 2022, mainly contributed by the food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.7 per cent) and restaurants and hotels (0.5 per cent).

 

Meanwhile, health and miscellaneous goods and services groups increased by 0.3 per cent, respectively.

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

On 21 – 22 December 2022, Miss Rujikorn Saengchantr, Deputy Director-General of Department of International Economic Affairs, chaired the Special Meeting of the BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee (S-BPWC) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Meeting discussed ways to strengthen and enhance the standard of practices of BIMSTEC as the rule-based subregional cooperation framework. The meeting successfully concluded three key documents including: 1) Rules of Procedure (RoP) for Core BIMSTEC Mechanisms 2) Rules of Procedure for Sectoral BIMSTEC Mechanisms and

3) Draft Terms of Reference for Eminent Persons’ Group on the Future Directions of BIMSTEC, all of which will serve as a foundation for future BIMSTEC cooperation as well as strengthen BIMSTEC as the only international cooperation binding South Asia and Southeast Asia together.

The report of this meeting will be proposed to the 23rd BIMSTEC Senior Officials’ Meeting, which will be hosted by Thailand in 2023, for further consideration.

 

During the Meeting, the Deputy Director-General also deposited Thailand’s Instrument of Ratification for the BIMSTEC Charter to H.E. Mr. Tenzin Lekphell, Secretary General of BIMSTEC. Thailand is the second Member State to deposit the Instrument of Ratification, after India.

 

 

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand

On 20 December 2022, Mrs. Pornpimol Kanchanalak, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Virtual Ministerial Meeting, hosted by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. The meeting discussed on IPEF’s ways and means towards tangible benefits, especially on trade and investment promotion, supply chains resilience, green economy and clean energy, digitalization, and capacity building related to taxation and anti-corruption. The meeting deliberated on ideas of concrete projects that can be implemented promptly, engaging with stakeholders for the benefit of the the region. On this occasion, the Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs proposed driving IPEF through promoting value creation and value-chain driver, which will lead to innovation towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Furthermore, people should be front and center of all of IPEF endeavours.

 

 

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand

​The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued rules for the participants in the Peso Real Time Gross Settlement Payment System (RTGS PS), an infrastructure that provides real-time settlement of payments, funds transfer instructions, or other obligations individually on a transaction-by-transaction basis, in order to ensure the smooth flow of funds in the financial system.

The rules comprise the first policy issuance of the BSP in its capacity as the RTGS PS operator under Republic Act No. 11127 or the National Payment System Act (NPSA).

The newly approved rules adhere to the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI) jointly developed by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

“By complying with the PFMI, the rules aim to ensure that the RTGS PS will have in place the necessary safeguards that are in accordance with global best practices,” explained BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla.

The PFMI consists of 24 principles that apply to financial market infrastructures (FMIs), 18 of which pertain to systemically important payment systems (SIPS), such as the RTGS PS.

The rules issued under BSP Memorandum No. M-2022-0049 dated 22 November 2022 require all RTGS PS participants to comply with all laws and regulations on payment systems and provide for penalties and sanctions.

RTGS PS participants include the BSP and financial institutions maintaining settlement accounts with the BSP, entities that are sponsored into settlement, as well as FMIs, clearing switch operators, and critical service providers within the RTGS ecosystem.

Aside from formally bringing the RTGS PS operations up to par with international best practices, the new rules are expected to promote inclusivity among RTGS PS participants.

“The rules will broaden access to the RTGS PS by allowing more financial institutions to participate in this critical infrastructure for large-value payments,” Governor Medalla added.

Toward this end, the BSP has streamlined the qualification requirements for prospective members of the real-time payment system. Thus, non-bank e-money issuers and other entities may now settle their retail transactions through the RTGS PS without the need for sponsorship by existing participants.

Last year, the BSP designated the RTGS PS as a SIPS under the NPSA. SIPS are payment systems that pose or have the potential to pose systemic risk to the stability of the national payment system. SIPS are subject to periodic assessment and closer supervision by the BSP to better preserve public interest and promote confidence in the use of payment systems.​

 

 

Source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)