Philippines - A woman has been charged for drug peddling before the Regional trial Court last Friday after being arrested by policemen in a buy-bust operation last October 10.

Elvira Arong Gonzales was arrested pearl earrings after selling drugs to policemen who conducted a buy-bust operation at the interior of barangay Suba, this city.

According to PO2 Ulyssis Reales, he acted as the poseur-buyer in the operation where Gonzales was the subject.

Along with a confidential agent, Reales went to the house of Gonzales, while the other police team members of the operation hid in a concealed place.

According to Reales, Gonzales handed to freshwater pearl jewelry him a small plastic pack of shabu estimated to be worth P200.

After the transaction was sealed, the team of police officers then arrested Gonzales.

No shabu was found in swing machines Gonzales pocket but only the buy bust money.

The crisis has battered consumer sentiment and affected the financial services sector, property and real estate services, and shop and restaurant owners.

Cautious investors are choosing to put their money in swing machines safe assets or hoard cash, weakening the local wealth management industry. Asian hedge funds have also been hit by redemptions, forcing them to offload assets.

But the MAS believes that the domestic fund management industry has ‘underlying strength with the ongoing structural wealth generation in Asia’.

Household wealth has been affected by falling asset prices so retail sales will be hit as consumers cut back spending. This will mean retailers could see slower business towards Christmas and into 2009, said the MAS.

One spot of relief is that the pharmaceuticals sector may offer some moderate cushion next year when two new facilities - belonging to freshwater pearl jewelry Abbott and Novartis - are expected to open.

The drug-making industry largely operates on its own supply cycle, but has generally been weak this year due to a delay in new drug approvals from the US and competition from generic medicines.

The industry is also notoriously volatile. Last month’s manufacturing figures were boosted by a surprising rebound in pharmaceutical output.

Another sector bucking the trend is construction, which will likely ride out 2009 well as backlogged projects awarded from previous quarters get under way, MAS said. Large-scale private sector projects like the integrated freshwater pearl resorts and the Marina Bay financial centre will also keep the industry busy through 2010.

However, construction’s share of GDP is small so any contribution to overall growth will be limited.

SINGAPORE’S slowing economy is likely to remain weak next year as the full impact of the financial crisis hits home, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) yesterday.

The economy, already in a technical recession, will see ‘further slippage… ahead’ with the decline expected to spread to almost all freshwater pearl sectors, from manufacturing to tourism.

The MAS in its second half-yearly macroeconomic review said that expansion is tipped to be ‘below its potential rate’ of 4 to 6 per cent next year.

The official growth forecast for this year has already been scaled down to about 3 per cent, while last week, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said that growth in 2009 could be below this year’s projection.

Economists The Straits Times talked to predict practically no growth next year. Most expect expansion of between 0 and 1.5 per cent freshwater pearl jewelry with a moderate recovery in the second half of next year.

Citigroup’s Kit Wei Zheng, one of the more bearish economists with a tip that growth next year will be minus 1.2 per cent, said that ‘a recovery in the second half of next year should not be taken for granted. Any recovery pearl beads will be gradual and will not take the V-shape of past recessions.

Household wealth has been affected by falling asset prices so retail sales will be hit as consumers cut back spending. This will mean retailers could see slower business towards Christmas and into 2009, said the MAS.

One spot of relief is that the pharmaceuticals cultured pearl jewlery sector may offer some moderate cushion next year when two new facilities - belonging to Abbott and Novartis - are expected to open.

The drug-making industry largely operates on its own supply cycle, but has generally been weak this year due to a delay in new freshwater pearl necklace drug approvals from the US and competition from generic medicines.

The industry is also notoriously volatile. Last month’s manufacturing figures were boosted by a surprising rebound in pharmaceutical output.

Another sector bucking the trend is construction, which will likely ride out 2009 well as backlogged projects awarded from pearl jewelry wholesale previous quarters get under way, MAS said. Large-scale private sector projects like the integrated resorts and the Marina Bay financial centre will also keep the industry busy through 2010.

However, construction’s share of GDP is small so any contribution to overall growth will be limited.