A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from Sept. 24 to 30 revealed that most Filipinos want President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to focus on reducing the prices of rice and other food products. The SWS Third Quarter 2025 Social Weather Survey, fielded through face-to-face interviews with 1,500...
Despite inflation climbing to a six-month high in September, Singapore-based Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd. (OCBC) still expects consumer prices in the Philippines to rise by less than two percent on average for the entire year. Average headline inflation stood at 1.7 percent as of...
Inflation rose to a six-month high of 1.7 percent in September, mainly due to more expensive fuel and higher vegetable prices following the onslaught of typhoons, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday, Oct. 7. The latest PSA data showed that the country’s inflation rate...
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel is casting doubt on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) projection that inflation likely quickened in September due to higher rice prices, maintaining that retail prices of the staple remain stable. The BSP estimated that last month’s inflation rate...
The rate of increase in consumer prices has accelerated last month due to jump in food prices, with recent weather events heavily impacting the cost of vegetables, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday, Sept. 5. Headline inflation accelerated to 1.5 percent in August 2025,...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects August 2025 inflation to accelerate to a median of 1.4 percent, a modest increase from July but a significant deceleration from last year. The central bank projects a range of 1.0 percent to 1.8 percent for the month. The forecast is a jump from...
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is expanding access to the government’s ₱20 per kilo rice program, now allowing rice farmers and farm workers who planted the staple to avail themselves of the cheap rice. In a statement, the DA announced that the rice program will now cover members of the...
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has downgraded its projection of the Philippines’ rice imports this year by 500,000 metric tons (MT) due to the 60-day import ban that will come into effect beginning next month. In its report on the global grains trade, the USDA’s Foreign...
Despite recent interest rate cuts by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), inflation hitting nearly six-year lows in recent months, and still-muted second-quarter growth in some sectors, further reductions in key borrowing costs are seen as necessary. “We think the second-quarter GDP [gross...
As Filipinos evolve alongside technology, the marketplace tradition once reserved for the hustle and bustle of wet markets is finding new life in the digital realm. The art of “tawad” or haggling is seen growing in the world of online shopping, yet its brushstroke still paints the same...
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...
Motorists are about to brace for the inclement weather and higher prices at the gas pumps. Effective Tuesday, July 22, gasoline prices will be raised by ₱0.40 per liter, diesel by ₱1.10 per liter, and kerosene by ₱0.70 per liter. Shell, Seaoil, and PetroGazz are among the few oil companies...
