Category Archives: Trade Credit Insurance
Executive-Led Medical Trade Mission to India Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad March 2-8, 2012
Executive-Led Medical Trade Mission to India Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad March 2-8, 2012
Federal Register Extracts
Nov 10, 2011 (Commerce Department Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) — Mission Description
The United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (CS) is organizing an Executive-Led Medical Trade Mission to India from March 2-8, 2012.
Insurance group gives top safety ratings to five minivans
An insurance industry trade group has given top safety ratings to five minivans but said two others were not as good.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded the 2012 Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Grand Caravan and Volkswagen Routan — which all share a common structure — and the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna vans its “Top Safety Pick” ranking following evaluations for rollover protection.
The Euro’s death will send gold soaring
Europe is approaching the end game. Credit markets and other governments know what the continent’s leaders won’t admit: The euro is failing. Gold, more than the dollar, is set to rocket in value as the crisis unfolds.
In addition to looser monetary policy (generous European Central Bank purchases of member country bonds) and austerity (higher taxes and less spending) across most of the EU states, Eurozone governments have a three-pronged policy for containing the debt crisis:
Amid Greek brouhaha, a new derivatives chief
An important Wall Street trade group replaced its CEO on Thursday. that ordinarily isn’t especially interesting news, but today we newsies got lucky.
State firms' cash infusion to help curb goods’ prices
Saturday, November 12, 2011
THE government recently infused cash into four state-led corporations, a move that will strengthen their respective abilities to keep basic goods’ prices in check and allow more Filipinos access home loans, among others.
The P11.05-billion infusion has been allotted to the government’s central monetary authority, an import-export credit agency, a housing body, and a newly established credit information bureau, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said in a statement posted on its website.
Businessmen call for APEC action
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a forum of 21 economies, is staging its annual meeting in Hawaii this week. Preliminary discussions began on Monday and the region’s leaders will end the summit on Sunday.
The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), which is currently holding its own meeting, renewed calls for a comprehensive and high quality free trade agreement in a recent report addressed to US President Barack Obama. It also urged measures to set up an integrated supply and value chain network for goods, services, and investments in a bid to improve preparedness of economies to cope with large-scale disasters.
“[Our] recommendations were informed by a volatile and uncertain economic environment characterized by strains on financial markets caused by the lack of progress in global rebalancing, high levels of debt and low growth. this situation has created disincentives for private sector investment and risks renewing protectionist sentiments,” the ABAC report states.
The report details 11 recommendations that deal with the council’s five priorities: regional economic integration; micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); sustainable growth; finance and economic support; and advocacy and action planning.
Promotion of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) was considered central to the region’s growth strategy as a means to remove trade and customs bottlenecks and strengthen global supply or value chain links.
“Despite the best efforts of APEC to date, there remain significant barriers to the efficient flow of goods and services through the supply chains. this prevents the realization of the full economic value that can be derived from the free availability and efficient application of the value chain,” the council claimed.
Free trade area discussions, however, must consider how integrated economies can be vulnerable to choke points that may arise from a single disrupted link.
“We have only to look at the serious national, regional and global supply chain disruptions that occurred in the wake of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami to realize the critical importance of the integrated supply chain and value chain framework,” the report states.
“There is a clear need to keep supply chains open in times of large-scale disasters. moreover, APEC economies need to step up the level of emergency preparedness to keep supply chains open.”
The report also stressed the role of MSMEs as “engines of growth and prosperity in APEC economies.” As such, the council urged ministers to address “next generation” trade issues such as SME participation in global production chains, competition and innovation policies, shortages of skilled personnel, and government procurement.
ABAC also recommended increasing cross-border trade among MSMEs and enhancing their access to finance. — EJD
OFFICIALS will present the Philippines’ microfinance experience during this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in preparation for the creation of a financial inclusion strategy to be adopted by the body’s member economies.
“The Philippines is taking an active role in the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting. we have been asked to present the developments in our microfinance initiatives because we are very much advanced compared to other countries,” Finance Undersecretary Rosalia V. de Leon yesterday said in a telephone interview.
The presentation will illustrate the country’s microfinance policies and regulatory regime. These will also be used as a reference as the APEC drafts its National Strategy for Financial Inclusion for its 21 member economies.
“Financial inclusion is actually an initiative of the United States in APEC, but it saw that the Philippines is advanced in that perspective,” Ms. de Leon said.
The APEC Financial Inclusion Initiative aims to encourage countries to increase the poor’s access to affordable financial services, such as savings, payment, credit and insurance.
The Philippines devised a National Strategy for Microfinance as early as 1998 to institutionalize the provision of small loans to the poor to jumpstart entrepreneurial projects.
This paved the way for the establishment of wholesale microfinance initiatives, providing funding for institutions such as rural banks, nongovernment organizations and cooperatives.
The private sector, for its part, is responsible for retail microfinance or extending credit directly to borrowers from the lower-income sector to help alleviate poverty.
The government released a total of P168.693 billion in microfinance loans from 2001 to 2009 to nearly 7.14 million borrowers. A separate P82.53 billion was also extended from 2004 to 2009 to create 2.83 million jobs.
The Philippine Development plan 2011-2016, the economic blueprint of the country under the Aquino administration, identifies microfinance as one of the strategies to build a resilient and inclusive financial sector.
Among the priorities are microinsurance, which provides affordable risk protection against financial distress caused by accidents, death and natural catastrophes. the plan also champions the Credit Surety Fund, a facility from which cooperatives can source funding for micro, small and medium enterprises.
The APEC’s annual meeting is being held this year in Honolulu, Hawaii. Preliminary discussions are already being staged and the event will culminate in a leaders’ summit on Sunday.
APEC has 21 member economies which account for about 40% of the worldís population, approximately 54% of world gross domestic product and about 44% of world trade.
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Credit Cardinals bullpen for the World Series title resting in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS — we saw in Game 6 how difficult it is to get the final outs of a World Series title. so there’s no understating the work done by the Cardinals’ relievers in Game 7. With Chris Carpenter done for the night and the world championship on the line Friday night at Busch Stadium, Tony La Russa’s bullpen came through in the clutch. Arthur Rhodes, Octavio Dotel, Lance Lynn and Jason Motte combined to lock down the late lead in the 6-2 clincher — something Neftali Feliz, Darren Oliver and Scott Feldman couldn’t do for Texas in Game 6. “There wasn’t anything that happened [Thursday] night that surprised Texas,” La Russa said. “The game is just too hard, and there’s too much talent. It’s a fine line.” one the Cards walked wonderfully. First, a little background. La Russa made 75 pitching changes this postseason. The previous record? Sixty-two. He didn’t always push the right buttons, as evidenced in Games 2, 5 and 6, but he kept riding each arm at his disposal for all it was worth. this was a bullpen unit that evolved and emerged late in the year. Veteran right-hander Dotel and reliable lefty Marc Rzepczynski both came aboard in the Colby Rasmus swap right before the non-waiver Trade Deadline, and it wasn’t until the end of August that Motte became La Russa’s go-to option in the ninth. The Cardinals’ late run coincided with the bullpen’s increasing reliability in the season’s waning weeks. “Jason Motte stepping up in the closer’s role did more than any single thing to help us win this deal,” said outfielder Lance Berkman. “It really solidified the back end of that bullpen.” Which brings us back to Game 7. The Cards had a 5-2 lead and needed nine outs when Carpenter was pulled with a man on second and none out in the top of the seventh. With left-handed pinch-hitter Endy Chavez coming to the plate, La Russa went with Rhodes. Rangers manager Ron Washington countered with the right-handed-hitting Yorvit Torrealba, and Rhodes got him to fly out harmlessly to center field. But the biggest outs belonged to Dotel, who struck out Ian Kinsler and got Elvis Andrus to weakly fly out to end the inning. That was particularly significant, given that the left-handed Josh Hamilton was looming. had Dotel been unable to retire either of those two, La Russa would have had to burn his only other available lefty, Rzepczynski, earlier than he hoped. Instead, he got through the inning unscathed, and the Cards added an insurance run in the bottom half. It was Lynn in the eighth, the guy who was unwittingly summoned in a tight situation in Game 5, leading to him intentionally walking the only batter he faced. this time, Lynn’s presence was no accident. and with the heart of the Rangers’ order at the plate, he delivered. The right-hander got Hamilton to ground weakly to second, got Michael Young to ground to first and then struck out Adrian Beltre on three pitches. The crowd erupted, and Lynn let out a fist pump and a primal scream. The World Series title was just three outs away. “Lynn was throwing bullets,” Berkman said. The final outs belonged to Motte, though La Russa, even with a 6-2 lead, had something creative in mind in case Motte looked shaky. Right-handers Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli were due up, followed by the left-handed-hitting David Murphy. “If Motte struggles, I don’t know if I’d do it, but I was going to play him in the outfield,” La Russa said. “I’ve never done it before in my life. But take him out, bring in Rzepczynski for the left-hander [Murphy] and bring [Motte] back for Kinsler.” Why go through all that trouble? “Because you know it can get away from you,” La Russa said. “That’s part of the stress of those last innings, because it’s a real small margin of getting those last outs.” all of this was moot because of Motte. in 12 pitches, it was all over. He got Cruz to fly out, Napoli to ground out and Murphy to fly out, and the Cardinals were champs. “I just tried to throw strikes,” Motte said. “I got behind at first, but then I was like, ‘I’ve got to start throwing strikes, get ahead of guys.’ and it worked out.” Indeed, it did. we will remember this Fall Classic for many things, and the great Bullpen Blunder of Game 5 will surely be among them. That was, of course, the game in which “Motte” somehow sounded like “Lynn” (if his name was heard at all) on La Russa’s call to the ‘pen, and it resulted in a costly cough-up that put the Cards on the brink of extinction. But aside from that bizarre bit of bullpen buffoonery, there is no denying that the Cards’ relief corps outlasted that of the Rangers, and that’s a substantial reason why the World Series title now rests in St. Louis. Rangers relievers put up a 7.44 ERA in the Fall Classic, the ninth-highest ERA for a World Series bullpen among those that worked at least 10 innings. “Those are the guys that got us here,” Washington said. “And those guys were in position to take us further, and it didn’t get done.” The Cardinals, by comparison, had a 4.55 mark from their relievers. Nothing special on paper, but the difference between a gassed unit and a resilient one was most evident in the way a late lead was nailed down with the World Series on the line. “It didn’t happen [in Game 6],” La Russa said. “It happened for us [in Game 7].”
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Scam watch: Roundup of cons, frauds and schemes
the settlement imposes a $22.5 million judgment against David J. Romeo and two new Jersey companies he controlled, Nutraceuticals International and Stella Labs; the judgment will be suspended when Romeo forfeits a vacation home in Vermont and assigns to the FTC the right to collect on $635,000 in business loans owed to him, the agency said.
