Sari-sari stores recorded a 90-percent surge in sales in March as rising global oil prices triggered widespread stockpiling among micro-retailers and households, according to homegrown tech startup Packworks. In a statement on Thursday, April 23, Packworks said that based on over one million...
While Asian currencies have been on a modest decline since Middle East tensions flared up, Japanese financial giant MUFG Bank Ltd. said the Philippine peso was the biggest loser among regional currencies, given the domestic economy’s high exposure to imported oil. Separately, think tank Capital...
Philippine economic growth in 2026 would have hit the government’s downgraded target range had the war in the Middle East been short-lived, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). However, the Bangkok-headquartered UNESCAP said a...
Suspending the excise tax offers a better respite than telling oil companies to fully implement a fuel price rollback, Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Monday, April 20. Hontiveros pointed this out in response to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.’s directive for oil companies to...
New York-based Moody’s Analytics expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to stand pat at this week’s policy meeting, despite a slightly worsening inflation outlook following the March price uptick. Analysts at Moody’s Analytics wrote in a commentary last Friday, April 17, that...
Rising energy prices triggered by the Middle East conflict are placing financial pressure across the Philippine office sector, with costs ultimately shared among landlords, occupiers, and the broader market, according to property consultancy Colliers. In a report on Monday, April 20, Colliers...
British banking giant Barclays expects Philippine economic growth this year to fall to a new post-pandemic low, even as easing tensions in the Middle East may help limit further downside risks to the outlook. An April 17 report obtained by Manila Bulletin showed Barclays’ latest forecast of just...
Private sector economists are split over whether the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will raise interest rates this week, as the need to anchor inflation expectations and defend the peso battles concerns over the fragile economic recovery. Of 10 economists surveyed, five expect a 25-basis-point...
Developing economies including the Philippines are pressing the World Bank Group (WBG) to help reduce borrowing costs as the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict drives up oil prices, disrupts supply chains, and threatens growth and food security. In an April 16 statement delivered before...
Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are stepping up coordination to cushion economies from the spillover effects of the Middle East conflict, citing rising energy costs, supply chain disruptions, and tighter financial conditions as immediate risks to growth and stability. In an April 17 joint...
Rising global energy prices driven by Middle East tensions are posing growing risks to the Philippine office real estate sector, as higher power costs threaten tenant demand, rental growth, and asset values, according to property consultancy Colliers. In an April 16 report, Colliers Philippines...
The Philippines has launched a safeguard investigation into rice imports, as authorities move to assess whether a surge in inbound shipments is harming domestic farmers of the country’s primary food staple. In an April 15 notification to the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO), the...
