Philippines may ban unprocessed mineral exports
The Dollar Business Bureau Philippines is considering imposing a ban on unprocessed mineral exports in an effort to encourage value addition to the mining sector, a senior government official said. Philippines is the topmost nickel ore exporter in the world, supplying almost all of its production to China. The previous governments had supported the calls to promote domestic processing of minerals but their efforts were unsuccessful as the Congress was unable to enact appropriate laws. “It’s one of the things we’re considering for any mine that we think should remain operating. In the long term, that will help our economy because that will increase the value of the products,” Maria Paz Luna, Undersecretary, Environment and Natural Resources told reporters on Friday. “This is one of the choices that not ...
New currency notes in ATMs from Friday: Govt
PTI The new hard-to-fake Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes will be available at bank ATMs when they start operating again from Friday, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said on Wednesday."There are going to be some difficulties which they (people) will face but for their convenience, a number of steps have been taken by the government, there are facilities to withdraw money from ATM and exchange currency at banks, withdraw money from accounts," he said on government withdrawing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from circulation to crack down on black money and counterfeit currency.People, he said, do understand the objective behind the move. "And I'm sure they will cooperate in dealing with the difficulties and inconvenience that they might face. ...
Government trying to put foreign investments on fast track
Naveen Kumar | The Dollar Business The FIPB (The Foreign Investment Promotion Board), under the chairmanship of Finance Secretary, Rajiv Mehrishi, will consider 32 FDI proposals in its next meeting on April 9, 2015. The companies whose proposal would be discussed for clearance by the Board include Decathlon S.A, France, Warden Petrochem Pvt. Ltd, Richemont Services B.V, Holland, Nickelodean Asia Holdings Ltd., Singapore, Blue Dart Express Limited among others. These cases include deferred decisions, appeal against earlier rejection or request for some amendment of earlier approval. In the last meeting that was held on March 28, 2015, FIPB cleared 10 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 2858 crores, while it differed 18 proposals due to various reasons. Currently ...
