Highlight of the Week: Philippines bags US$1b investment deals with Europe

Highlights of the Week: News, events and updates that are likely to affect your investments and trades in the Philippines stock market.

Philippines bags US$1b investment deals with Europe

London (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday crowned the first full day of his visit to the United Kingdom by attending business meetings between Filipino and European companies, resulting in deals that would raise around US$1 billion in investments for the Philippines.

Country posts 6.4% GPD for the 1st Quarter

After four quarters of lackluster performance, the Philippine Economy is off to a rousing start in the year of the water dragon as GDP grew by 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared to an upwardly revised growth of 4.9 percent last year.  The above expectations growth benefitted from a regime of benign inflation and drew from the revitalized Services sector, particularly from Trade and Other Services.  It also got a big boost from manufacturing which has recovered some grounds that got eroded during the third and fourth quarters last year.

Shocking Facts About Filipinos Household Saving and Investing [INFOGRAPHIC]

An infographic released by Money Summit & Wealth Expo revealed some of the shocking facts about the saving and investing habits of Filipinos.

Key takeaways

- 2 out 8 Filipino households have a bank deposit

- 7 in 10 own their home while 1 in 6 own real property other than their home

- 1 in 5 households receives financial assistance abroad

- 43.8% spent more than their income

- 51.5% spent as much as their income

- 4.6% spent less than their income

SSS may surpass goal for investments

SOCIAL Security System (SSS) may exceed the target it set for its investments on expectations that economic growth will remain robust, a top official said last week.

Edgar Solilapsi, SSS executive vice president for investments, told reporters in an interview that the state-run pension fund for the private sector exceeded expectations in the first quarter in terms of earnings of its equity and fixed-income placements.