Money News Roundup: Stricter Motorcycle and PUV Lanes, DICT and Facebook Team-Up, Two New Tesla EVs

The biggest news of last week must have been the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2017.   Leaders from neighboring countries came to the Philippines to tackle the current issues in the region as well as secure deals and trades with other nations. However, ASEAN 2017 wasn’t the only thing happening in the country—and the world didn’t stop for them.

Okay, maybe for three days the workforce was paralyzed too.

Money News Roundup: Stricter Motorcycle and PUV Lanes

So, if you were too smitten by Trudeau’s stop at Jollibee and forgot about the rest of the events, weeks event’s we will skip the foreplay now and give you last week’s details.

MMDA strictly enforcing PUV and motorcycle lanes

With the traffic volume ballooning this holiday season, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will become stricter in implementing the yellow and blue lanes on Epifanio delos Santos Avenue for public vehicles and motorcycles, respectively. Public vehicles like buses and UV Express units must remain in yellow lanes, with outermost lanes being exclusive for loading and unloading cars, and the second lane from the right being reserved for provincial and point-to-point premium buses. Dry run of the implementation will start today and tomorrow.  Motorcycle lane reinforcement, meanwhile, will start on Wednesday.

Source: Interaksyon

Tesla unveiled not one but two new cars

The automotive world was expecting Tesla CEO Elon Musk to unveil the Tesla Semi, a titanic semi-trailer truck meant to disrupt the hauling industry. While the electric truck with 800-km range is impressive enough as it is, Musk caused further jaws to drop with the reveal of the new Roadster. Touted as the world’s fastest EV to date, the Roadster, boasts of 400 km/h and a range of 1,000 km in a single charge. The Roadster is slated for release in 2020 for a starting price of $200,000, which is cheaper than your average supercar. The pricing for the Semi has yet to be released.

Source: Wired

iPhone X prices in the Philippines announced

First, we saw the iPhone 8 and X. Next, we saw the pre-sale prices from gray market sellers. Finally, we now know where our bonuses are going: Apple released the pricing of the new iPhones in the Philippines. According to the Cupertino-based company, the brand-new Apple smartphones will be available in the Philippines at the following prices:

iPhone 8: P44,990 (64GB), P54,990 (256GB)

iPhone 8 Plus: P51,490 (64GB), P60,990 (256GB)

iPhone X: P64,490 (64GB), P73,990 (256GB)

Source: Rappler

Ocean power plant to rise in Samar

Southeast Asia’s first ocean tidal power plant capable of generating 1.5 megawatts will soon rise in Samar. The venture, which is a collaboration between H&WB Asia Pacific and Sabella SAS, will use the marine current from the San Bernardino Strait between Samar and Luzon to turn marine turbines and generate electricity from the ocean tides.  Once completed, the $25-million power plant will supply power to off-grid communities in Northern Samar.

Source: The Philippine Star

Philippines outperforms China, most SEA neighbors

With the Philippine economy posing a robust 6.9 percent economic growth for the third quarter, the country scored one against China and most of our other neighboring countries. The economy’s gross domestic product (GDP), which has been growing at more than 6 percent for nine quarters straight, outpaced China’s 6.8 percent, Malaysia’s 5.1 percent, Indonesia’s 5.06 percent, Singapore’s 4.6 percent, and Thailand’s 3.3 percent. The only ASEAN country to beat the Philippines’ GDP growth was Vietnam, whose economy grew by 7.46 percent last quarter.

Source: Rappler

Car sales went 16% up last ten months

Compared to the same period last year, vehicle sales from January to October grew from 295, 502 to 339,380 units, according to the joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and Truck Manufacturers Association. Private vehicles went up from last year’s 108,535 to 113,341 units this year while commercial vehicles posted a growth rate of 22.9 percent from last year’s 183,967. Toyota gets the lion’s share by selling 149,333 units for the last ten months, while Mitsubishi and Ford followed suit.

Source: The Philippine Star

BSP assured public economy “overheating” is unlikely

BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. allayed fears that the Philippine economy is overheating after it posted strong numbers for the third quarter. According to Espenilla, the public should worry once “we’re persistently growing above potential.” The country’s GDP grew by 6.9 percent on third quarter, which is higher than last quarter’s 6.7 percent. GDP expansion in the three quarters, which is 6.7 percent, is still higher than the ceiling rate posted by the Development Budget Coordination Committee, which is between 6.5 to 7.5 percent.

Source: The Philippine Star

Government teamed up with Facebook for faster internet

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) came to social media giant Facebook for help in erecting a high-speed internet infrastructure in the Philippines. Dubbed as the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure, it will be composed of huge submarine cables that will penetrate Luzon on both coasts and directly hook up networks in Asia and the United States, providing much faster connection to the public. The Luzon Bypass Infrastructure project is expected to start in 2019.

Source: The Philippine Daily Inquirer