To finance road and flood control projects, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved a total of $4.89 billion worth foreign borrowings in the second quarter of 2025, higher by more than a quarter from $3.90 billion in the same period last year. According to the BSP, the approved...
Loans from big banks or universal and commercial banks (UK/Bs), excluding investments in the central bank’s reverse repurchase (RRP), grew by a faster 12.1 percent in June from May’s 11.3-percent expansion. According to the latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released on...
Mobile payment providers Apple Pay and Google Pay will not need to register with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) if they plan to enter the Philippine market, as the central bank does not qualify them as operators of payment systems (OPS). BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan stated that the...
After performing among the worst of Asian currencies last week, the Philippine peso is still expected by Japanese financial giant MUFG Bank Ltd. to gradually appreciate and return to the ₱56:$1 level next year. “All Asian currencies depreciated against the United States (US) dollar [last] week,...
With rice prices still seen to have dropped further recently, the central bank has forecast that increases in consumer prices likely slowed even more in July, following the five-and-a-half-year lows of 1.4 percent in June and 1.3 percent in May. As such, private-sector economists said that the...
Lower interest rates would spur a faster Philippine economic expansion next year, according to the Washington-based multilateral lender International Monetary Fund (IMF). Referring to its latest forecasts for the Philippines contained in the recently published July 2025 World Economic Outlook (WEO)...
Banks are set to move away from serving only clients of their affiliated insurers, as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is rolling out amended bancassurance guidelines that will allow third-party insurers to sell their products to banks’ customers. “A draft circular amending the...
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. indicated that the central bank is considering another 25-basis-point (bps) reduction in its key interest rate as early as August. “A further reduction in the key interest rate is 'on the table’,” Remolona told reporters on...
Thrift, rural, or cooperative banks under the Tier 3 category—at least 75 percent of clients, funds, or transactions are handled digitally—may be ordered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to convert into digital banks (DBs), as the central bank also moves to raise the minimum capital...
Central banks in Southeast Asia, where economies like the Philippines export a wide array of goods to the United States (US), are expected to cut interest rates some more as tariffs take effect next month, according to the think tank Capital Economics. In a July 23 report, Capital Economics senior...
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is urging developing economies to reduce their dependence on the export of key commodities, citing the potential of those with a more diversified economic mix like the Philippines to nurture sustainable growth. Based on its 2025 State...
S&P Global reported that credit growth across emerging markets (EMs) in Asia has generally softened in the first six months of the year, except in the Philippines and Vietnam, where lending has notably picked up pace. According to debt watcher S&P Global, loans from major banks, including universal...
