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...
The Department of Agriculture (DA) will expand the government’s ₱20-per-kilo rice program to include farmers of the staple beginning next month, expanding access to cheaper rice for one of the country’s poorest sectors. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said the government will...
The World Bank considers liberalized rice trade as a boost to the Philippine agriculture sector, even as the Marcos Jr. administration is moving to reinstate the National Food Authority’s (NFA) old regulatory powers. “Strategic shifts are underway to reinvigorate transformation of the...
The Department of Agriculture (DA) will hold on-the-ground consultations with farmers and lawmakers to prepare for the deliberations on the proposed RICE Act, which aims to reinstate the regulatory powers of the National Food Authority (NFA). Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel said he has...
Robust government spending ahead of the May 12 elections likely sped up economic growth in the first quarter, despite private consumption largely being in wait-and-see mode as Filipinos save up, according to the research arm of global financial giant Deutsche Bank. In a May 3 report received by...
DoubleDragon Corporation, the partnership between tycoons Tony Tan Caktiong and Edgar Sia II, is finally transitioning into a holding company with its acquisition of Sia’s listed retailer MerryMart Consumer Corporation after initially buying a 35 percent stake for ₱1.28 billion. In a disclosure...
Annual consumer price increases slowed further to 1.8 percent in March 2025, down from 2.1 percent in February, as food price hikes eased mainly due to lower rice prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported. March inflation was the slowest in nearly five years, or since May 2020—at...
Consumer price hikes dropped sharply to 2.1 percent in February, marking the lowest rate in five months, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Data from the PSA on Wednesday, March 5, revealed headline inflation slowed significantly from the 2.9 percent rate in January. It...
Private-sector economists polled by Manila Bulletin are expecting the Philippine central bank to continue reducing key interest rates during the upcoming monetary policy meeting as majority of expectations leaned towards inflation slowing slightly in January. Economists monitoring the economic...
Consumer prices in December accelerated for the third consecutive month, but a sharp decline in rice prices helped ease the impact, particularly on poor households, with rice inflation slowing to its lowest level in three years. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that the...
With inflation within the target range for 2024 and projected to remain so in 2025, economists polled by the Manila Bulletin expect the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to continue reducing key borrowing costs this year. Despite headline inflation rates increasing incrementally month-on-month,...
Despite potential price increases in some sectors, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) anticipates that the rate of increase in consumer prices will remain controlled and within the desired range this month. In a statement on Friday, Dec. 27, the central bank projected that December 2024...
