American banking giant Citi said a sustained surge in energy prices could trigger a spike in the overall inflation rate to around three percentage points (ppt) above the government’s four-percent ceiling. Citi wrote in an April 8 commentary that this could lead to muted consumer demand and...
The peso’s purchasing power hit another record low in March as the price shock wrought by the war in the Middle East further eroded Filipinos’ ability to spend the local currency. The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), released on Tuesday, April 7, showed that the...
BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benjamin Magalong has expressed concern about the impact of the energy crisis on the local Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This city recorded a 40 percent to 50 percent drop in tourist arrivals during the Holy Week compared to last year. Magalong said hotels in Camp John Hay...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has likely exhausted its window for monetary easing as resurgent price pressures threaten to breach the upper limit of its target range, according to the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). While the Philippine economy shows signs of stabilizing...
The Philippines is more vulnerable to “stagflationary” shock than any of its Southeast Asian neighbors as surging energy costs and cooling domestic demand squeeze the country’s economy, according to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) In a research note published last week, OCBC economists...
If the war in the Middle East prolongs and global oil prices continue to skyrocket, the Philippine peso could breach the ₱61:$1 level in the second quarter of 2026 and even hit as low as ₱62 to ₱64 against the United States (US) dollar. “Our base case forecasts for the US dollar-Philippine...
Multilateral lenders including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank Group (WBG) are moving to provide immediate financing and coordinated support to countries reeling from the economic fallout of the Middle East war. In a statement on...
Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to keep key interest rates unchanged this year, despite rising risks to growth and inflation from the ongoing war in the Middle East. “Amid persistent uncertainty over the Middle East conflict, we expect...
The global oil shock triggered by escalating conflict in the Middle East is hitting the Philippines’ poorest households the hardest, as surging fuel costs spill over into food prices and erode purchasing power. A March 26 position paper by state-run policy think tank Philippine Institute for...
While Philippine monetary authorities maintained the current policy rate at 4.25 percent in a rare off-cycle meeting, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it would hike key interest rates if second-round effects from war-driven oil supply shocks occur. “Once we see second-round effects from...
President Marcos has cited the futility of spending the country 's foreign reserves to defend the Philippine peso, which recently further weakened, hitting a new record low of P60.30 against the US dollar. In an interview with Bloomberg, Marcos stressed that the dollar 's movement is...
The Philippines has emerged as Southeast Asia’s leading tourism economy, generating nearly US$92 billion and sustaining over 11 million jobs nationwide, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said Friday, Jan. 30. DOT Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco said the latest World Travel and Tourism Council...
