I Talk "Money Talks" (Part One)

As promised in my last blog post, I'll share some of the insights and even some stock picks from the Money Talks seminar I attended recently. The seminar was held last June 11 at the PSBank Tower along Paseo in Makati.

Overall, it was a good session.

I understand that First Metro Asset has a partnership with UA&P and that's why Dr Vic Abola was present to discuss the Philippine economy as well as the adverse impact (if any) of the Greek/European debt crisis. There was then a presentation of the outlook of the Philippine Stock Market, stock picks, mutual fund investing 101, and how to trade stocks online via First Metro.

In a nutshell, it's good to be in Asia.

On a personal note though, that's the great paradox for the Philippines. The West seems to be on the decline mounting huge debts while Asia is rising. Yet locally, a lot of Filipinos still yearn to Go West. Oh well. That's a challenge for the new Philippine President.

The Philippine economy is expected to weather the external problems. Low interest rates are favorable for business expansion. Low inflation rate will mean that the BSP maintains the low interest rates. Construction is still picking up both in the public and private sector.

SMDC is supposed to build 100,000 UNITS per year. Before SMDC, the entire real estate industry generates about 250,000 a year.

Imagine the glut in the coming years assuming the buyers of these units are looking forward to rent units out rather to live in it. Location and project development will be key to long term appreciation of property prices. This is my personal opinion of course.

Consumer spending is also alive in the country. Proof positive is that (if memory serves me right), car sales and ad spend are up. The almost weekly sale in SM is probably another key driver.

Another interesting data I got was that East Asia accounts for 42% of Philippine exports. Europe? Just 18%. The US continues to be our #1 export destination.

One more trivia - China is going bananas over Philippine bananas as we supply 60% of their requirements.

A side effect of the debt crisis and US recession was that gas prices did not go up since the demand for it slacked. This bodes well for the Phils. since we import our requirements. Low gas prices mean lower inflation. Projected inflation for this year (vs the previous year) is 4.5%

Challenges for the Philippine economy remain to be the power crisis (yes we have one) in the South, the growing government deficit, the peso appreciation (OFW remittances lose value), among others.

That's it for now. That's probably info overload already for you. More in the next post!