Business NEWS

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reminded banks to ensure continuing financial services to the public such as in account opening and in the availability of cash during the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

As part of its digital literacy campaign, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is reminding consumers that have migrated to online financial transactions to get in the habit of practicing good cyber hygiene.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno is confident that  the Philippines is not at risk of losing its stable credit ratings outlook with the recession because of the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals that will propel the anticipated strong recovery next year and in 2022.

Big banks’ lending activities slowed in June to 9.6 percent compared to 11.3 percent in May as high demand for liquidity at the height of the harsh lockdown eased up, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

Domestic liquidity up 14.9%

The central bank’s lower assumptions for peso and inflation for 2020, as approved by the inter-agency Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC), along with the worse-than-projected GDP performance, will be key numbers that will influence monetary policy this month.

The Duterte administration will not put the country’s investment grade status at risk for massive stimulus, as Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, who once criticized his predecessor obsession with credit ratings, explained “circumstances” today have changed.

The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) adjusted its macroeconomic assumptions and fiscal program after the country officially entered a recession as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Monetary authorities are considering additional policy measures to ensure that the severe economic contraction posted in the second quarter does get worse but instead nurse a recovery in the months ahead amidst the lingering pandemic.

Gotianun-led EastWest Bank (EW) reported a 65 percent spike in net income to P4.5 billion in the first half of 2020 due to better margins from its core lending and deposit-taking business and higher trading gains.

The yields of the three-tenor term deposit facility (TDF) increased during its auction Wednesday as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) adjusted the offer size by just P20 billion to P380 billion.

The central bank said yesterday that while the gross domestic product (GDP) number is expected to slip in the second quarter, it will however contract “at a slower pace” for the last two quarters of 2020.

The current assumptions for the economy and other indicators remain unchanged even as Metro Manila and nearby other areas  returned on Tuesday to the stricter lockdown and containment measures under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

As part of climate change initiatives and to push for sustainable finance, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has joined the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) which is a group of 69 central banks and supervisors dedicated to enhancing the financial sector’s global response to all risks to the environment. 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued guidelines on banks’ treatment of expected credit losses (ECL) in their books and reminded them to apply prudence in making credit decisions in the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

Global remittances could fall by as much as $108.6 billion in 2020 if it takes a year to contain the coronavirus pandemic and reopen economies, according to Asian Development Bank economists.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno announced that July inflation could be a low of 2.2 percent versus June’s 2.5 percent, or come up to a high of three percent.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said the outstanding loans of banks’ foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) went up by 1.3 percent in the first quarter to $18.3 billion compared to the previous quarter’s (end-December 2019) $18 billion.