Philippines

Cebu Air Inc. will fully restore its pre-pandemic capacity in March, putting the Philippines’ largest budget carrier on the path to “full recovery and profitability” this year, said President and Chief Commercial Officer Alexander Lao, Bloomberg News reported. Cebu Air probably cut its loss to 2.09-billion peso ($38.3 million) in 2022, according to street consensus, as easing of virus curbs and travel restrictions allowed it to mount more flights. Its losses peaked 27.2 billion pesos in 2021 after a 23-billion peso loss in 2020.

The number of initial public offerings at the Philippine Stock Exchange will probably rise to a record this year, with a value of at least 150 billion pesos ($2.7 billion), bourse President Ramon Monzon said in a virtual briefing, Reuters reported. The guidance is based on existing IPOs in the pipeline and share sales that have already take place, including eight in the first half of the year that raised a total of 76.17 billion pesos, according to Monson.

The Philippines will likely follow its interest-rate increase last month with at least two more hikes to curb inflation, according to the central bank’s incoming governor, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s almost a sure thing to everyone that we will raise in June,” Felipe Medalla, a board member of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas who is set to take over from Benjamin Diokno as governor on July 1, said in an interview Tuesday. There is a “90% chance there’s another one in August.

The Philippines’ credit rating is unlikely to be downgraded because the country’s debt, which has risen to 12 trillion pesos ($232 billion), remains manageable, central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said, Bloomberg News reported. The Southeast Asian nation’s level of debt is sustainable, with economic growth expected to outpace an increase in borrowings, Diokno said in a statement Sunday. The debt-to-GDP ratio of 61% is also manageable, compared with other countries, he said.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) successfully restructured crippling debts and exited a US Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in just four months with a steady management team at the helm and the full financial backing of owner, billionaire Lucio Tan, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. The flag carrier was also aided by a small army of international legal and financial consultants, who earned fees of almost $3 million (P150 million) advising the carrier during the creditor protection plea, a recent court filing showed.

The Philippine government has mandated banks to sell a planned dollar bond, as it weighs raising as much as $7 billion via foreign commercial notes this year, Bloomberg News reported. The banks include Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Bank, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered Bank, UBS, and Bank of China, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The timing of any debt sale also depends on global events such as the U.S.-Russia standoff over Ukraine, the person said. The prospect of higher U.S.

Candidates seeking to succeed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said they will continue to push for better infrastructure, pitching to prioritize areas outside the capital and for companies to build more while government debt remains high, Bloomberg News reported. At the first presidential forum on Friday, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Senator Panfilo Lacson said they will boost public-private partnerships, which Duterte earlier criticized but eventually adopted. The Southeast Asian nation is banking on infrastructure spending to help boost pandemic recovery.

The Philippine government’s outstanding debt reached 11.7 trillion pesos ($229 billion) at end-December, up by a fifth from a year ago, according to the Bureau of the Treasury, Bloomberg News reported. The debt-to-GDP ratio widened to 60.5% in 2021 from 54.6% in the year previous.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has named a new captain to pilot the company in its recovery path. PAL announced yesterday the appointment of its senior vice president for airline operations Stanley Ng as the company’s new president and chief operating officer (COO), in an acting or officer-in-charge capacity, the Philippine Star reported. Ng replaces Gilbert Santa Maria, who served as the airline’s president and COO during PAL’s Chapter 11 restructuring process which the company completed last year. PAL did not disclose the reason why Santa Maria was replaced.