Banking and Finance · Rare Periodicals · Open Access Repository @ UPD

Title

Banking and Finance

Creator

Sommons, W. M.

Language

English

Source

The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXVIII (No. 12) December 1952

Year

1952

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

and some of his followers having pled guilty of the charges of rebellion and murder filed against them by the Government and being sen tenced to life imprisonment, will be granted a conditional pardon on recommendation of General Duque. The President, having returned to Manila, confers with Liberal Party leaders who urge him to reject the recent proposal of Senator Jose Laurel that the two of them withdraw as candidates for the presi dency in the 1953 elections in favor of Secretary of National Defense Ramon Magsaysay; the leaders urge him to run for re-elec tion and also reiterate their endorsement of his exercise of his emer gency powers in releasing much-needed public works and relief funds. As to the Laurel proposal, the President states that he “will consider it for what it is worth.” Nov. 25 — The President at a Cabinet meeting signs an adminis trative order creating the Informational Media Guaranty Program Committee, which is to examine and approve or disapprove all applica tions for contracts to supply the Philippines with “media materials” under the Informational Media Guaranty program made available to the Philippines under Section 111 (b) (3) of the U. S. Economic Co operation Act of 1948, such as books, periodicals, newspapers, motion pictures, etc. The committee will be composed of 5 persons representing the Department of Education, the University of the Philippines, the Central Bank, the Import Control Commission, and the Department of Foreign Affairs. At the Cabinet meeting, the President inquires as to the recent•statement of Dr. Roland R. Renne, implying that “politics was delaying MSA releases.” Acting Secretary of Agriculture Jose Camus states that in so fa’’as the distribution of irrigation pumps is concerned, mentioned as an instance by Dr*. Renne, no politics were involved but that he had had to order surveys of their suitability in various regions. Austrian officials, Dr. Carl Behleter and E. C. Tomicich, make courtesy calls on Secretary Elizalde and other Foreign Department officials; they are the first members of an Austrian trade promotion delegation on the way to the Philippines. Nov. 26 — The President orders the reactivation of the Barangay Associations with former Under-Secretary of the Interior Nicanor Roxas heading the campaign; the associations were authorized under Executive Order No. 347. Nov. 27 — Malacanan announces that the President is readying the release of another P2,953,000 public works fund chiefly for the rebuilding of schoolhouses destroyed by recent typhoons; the sum would bring the total released for public works to P5,345,780. An nounced, too, that the President will not issue another executive order for the release of further funds as he will leave it to Congress to appro priate the additional funds needed during the coming regular session; releases will be confined to the amounts specified in his two executive orders,—around P37.000.000 for public works and Pll.000,000 for relief. Recently, Sen. Claro M. Recto, on behalf of Senate President Eulogio Rodriguez and Sen. Lorenzo Tanada, filed with the Supreme Court a petition for a writ of prohibition against the President’s use of emergency powers to release funds not duly appropriated by Congress. Nov. 29 — The President grants executive clemency with parole conditions to Kamlon and 23 of his followers recently sentenced to life imprisonment for rebellion with multiple murder, the conditions being that they must report to the nearest Constabulary or Philippine Naval authorities every month, comply with any summons that may be issued for their appearance, accept periodical visits of such authorities at reasonable times, commit no crimes and conduct themselves in an orderly manner, and assist the Government in the surrender of fire arms illegally held; should any of these conditions be violated, the sentences imposed would again go into full effect. Nov. 30 — The Cabinet approves certain projects to be under taken under the United Nations Expanded Technical Assistance Pro gram to. cost a total of P255,564.21, part of the P500.000 included in the appropriations for the Department of Foreign Affairs for the fiscal year 1953 as a counterpart fund to be used in commitments to be under taken under the Program. Among the projects are the Bayambang educational center and vocational training institute, a pilot center for the control of schistosomiasis in eastern Leyte, and a statistical training center. Banking and Finance By W. M. Simmons Manager The National City Bank of New York COMPARATIVE statement of condition of the Central Bank: As of As of As of As of Dec 31 Aug. 29 Sept. 30 October 31 ASSETS 1949 1952 1952 1952 - (In thousands of Pesos) International Reserve.... P460.689 P472.836 P476.146 P472.919 Contribution to Interna tional Monetary Fund. 30,000 30,000 30,000 • 30,000 Account to Secure Coinage 113,306 107,570 107,570 107,570 Loans and Advances.... 77,047 45,055 48,055 48,195 Domestic Securities......... 92,197 233,824 231,650 231,882 Trust Account-Securities Stabilization Fund.. . . — — — — Other Assets...................... 20,390 44,200 49,566 42,783 LIABILITIES Currency — Notes........... Coins........... P793.629 P933.485 P942.987 P933.349 P530.688 90,689 P555.576 P516.495 P527.147 91,073 74,384 91,406 Demand Deposits - Pesos 117,682 277,126 274,797 266,977 Securities Stabilization Fund................................. 2,000 12,233 12,233 12,233 Due to International Monetary Fund........... 22,498 496 496 496 Due to International Bank for Reconstruc tion and Development 2,389 2,383 2,383 2,383 Other Liabilities............... 2,636 7,345 8,331 2,365 Deferred Credits............... — 1,852 2,448 3,055 Capital................................. 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 Undivided Profits............ 6,464 7,017 6,947 7,331 Surplus................................. — 7,132 7,132 7,132 P793.629 P933.485 P942.987 P933.349 The Central Bank’s international reserve as of October 31, 1952, dropped by P3,227,000, thus reversing the upward movement of the previous two months. This is accounted for by the decline in deposits in U. S. Depositories of P5,617,000 which failed to offset the in crease as a result of the Central Bank’s purchase of about ?2,000,000 worth of U. S. Government Securities during the month under review and additional gold holdings of P336,000. Including net foreign exchange holdings of other banks, the country’s international reserve was re ported to have amounted to $299,372,000 at the end of the month, compared to $298,589,000 on September 30, 1952. Loans and advances continued their upward trend since June 30, 1952, but the increase registered in October was negligible. Currency issued increased from P618,220,000 in September to P621,377,000 in October, but there was a decrease in demand deposits from P274,797,000 to P266,977,000 during the same period. The cash position of banks continues easier and quota tions for time money have been correspondingly reduced. In some quarters the best rate is now 1-1/2% for 3 to 6 months without much interest in new money at this rate. Loan rates are unchanged at 5% to 6%. statistics released by the Central Bank show that foreign exchange transactions of the Philippines during the first 9 months of this year resulted in a net gain of $6,200,000 caused primarily by heavy receipts from invisible exports. United States government expenditures alone totalled $100,700,000. Receipts aggregated $410,300,000 (including $259,900,000 of visible exports and $150,400,000 of invisible), against disbursements of($404,100,000 (for $335,900,000 of visible imports and $68,200,000 of in visible). Compared with the corresponding period in 1951, total receipts showed an increase of 1.7%, while disbursements were down by 2.6%. tt is reported that since the Rural Bank Law was ap proved on June 6, 1952, the Central Bank has received forty applications to open Rural banks. To date certifi cates of authority to establish such banks have been granted for the following localities: Pasig, Rizal; Novaliches, Rizal; Malolos, Bulacan; Urdaneta, Pangasinan; and Bacolod, Negros Occidental. The majority of applications have been received from Luzon provinces, but several have come from Visayan and Mindanao areas. (Note: The information contained herein has been derived from responsible sources but the National City Bank assumes no responsibility for its accuracy). 483