Factory-gate prices rose at their fastest pace in three years in March, as oil-linked industries drove a sharp acceleration in manufacturing costs at the onset of the war in the Middle East. The latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data on Thursday, April 30, showed that the producer price...
Amid surging fuel and electricity costs, worsened by a weakening peso, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects April inflation to have accelerated to at least 5.6 percent—potentially the fastest pace in nearly three years. In a statement on Thursday, April 30, the BSP said it expects...
United Kingdom (UK)-based think tank Pantheon Macroeconomics said the Philippine economy remains too fragile to quickly pass through surging energy prices into demand-side pressures, suggesting that the latest interest rate hike is likely a one-off move. As such, the benchmark rate at 4.5 percent...
The World Bank Group (WBG) has warned that the war in the Middle East is set to trigger the biggest energy price surge in four years, fueling inflation, slowing economic growth, and worsening food insecurity across developing economies. In an April 28 statement, the Washington-based multilateral...
The Philippine economy faces a potential “second wave” of inflation and a sharp slowdown in growth if geopolitical volatility in the Middle East persists, according to HSBC. In a briefing on Tuesday, April 28, Aris Dacanay, HSBC senior Asean economist, warned that a prolonged blockade of the...
Philippine business sentiment collapsed into pessimistic territory in the first quarter as escalating Middle East tensions fueled fears of an energy price shock, according to the latest central bank data. According to the latest Business Expectations Survey (BES) released by the Bangko Sentral ng...
House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan says it 's now "justified" for the country’s 17 regional wage boards to roll out a fresh round of minimum wage increases starting this June. “There’s no question that a new round of regional wage hikes is now...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) signaled a more aggressive path for monetary policy, with the central bank chief indicating readiness to deliver “as many hikes as necessary” to curb domestic price pressures resulting from global oil supply shocks. Following the central bank’s first...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) signaled a shift toward a tightening cycle, with the central bank chief indicating that the recent quarter-point increase in the benchmark borrowing rate is likely the first of several gradual moves to tame resurgent price pressures. BSP Governor Eli M....
The inflation-targeting Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is expected to raise the policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.5 percent to confront war-driven price hikes head-on, according to investment banking giant Goldman Sachs. “Given its price stability mandate, we believe the BSP will hike...
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...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) should raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Thursday to combat broadening price pressures that are beginning to weigh on private consumption, according to New York-based GlobalSource Partners Inc. In a commentary released April 22,...
