Economy

USAID supports comprehensive Islamic education in Mindanao


A Moro child in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in one of the schools being supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The agency recently conducted a one-week training class for ustadzes (Islamic teachers) to integrate English, science, and math into the basic Islamic and Arabic teaching in madrasahs. At a ceremony to mark the training, ARMM Department of Education Undersecretary Manaros Boransing said that implementing the Revised Basic Education Curriculum is important to develop future Moro leaders who are deeply rooted in their Islamic faith while being fully attune to developments in the Philippines and the global community. (US Embassy photo)

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Business sentiment in Philippines bullish in 2nd Quarter

MANILA — The confidence index (CI) for the second quarter remained strong at 46.4 percent, higher relative to comparable levels year-on-year (by 14.8 points) and quarter-on-quarter (by 1.5 points).

Business executives also remained confident about the next quarter as the index (at 44.7 percent) rose by almost 12.0 points year-on-year. Quarter-on-quarter, however, the index fell by 4.7 points.
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Invest in the Philippines, Arroyo tells Filipino workers in Japan

TOKYO, Japan ? From Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to Overseas Filipino Investors (OFI).

This is the vision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for OFWs as she urged the Filipino community in this East Asian nation Friday to invest in real state, the stock market, government bonds and treasury bills, and other small and medium enterprises back home to help the government sustain the country?s economic growth
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Asia Must Respond Immediately to Needs of Ageing Populations

TOKYO, JAPAN – Critical reform measures need to be taken soon before the impact of ageing populations takes its toll in developing countries in Asia, the Asian Development Bank Institute?s Dean, Masahiro Kawai, said during a recent seminar on ageing in Asia.

?For far too long we have tended to focus on high-income economies in the region like Japan, and the newly-industrialized economies — Republic of Korea; Hong Kong, China; Taipei,China; and Singapore — that are far advanced in the ageing curve,? said Mr. Kawai. ?But many of the middle-income developing countries and a few low-income developing countries in the region are on the same demographic path.?
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