President Marcos has appointed Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Undersecretary Kim Robert de Leon as the country’s new Budget Secretary, making him the youngest person to head the agency. Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro announced De Leon’s...
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) annual summer ritual is familiar: it promises that the electricity supply will be “enough and stable,” but the power grid clearly is not getting the memo. After decades of forecasting, energy officials still miss the mark so consistently that it almost feels...
The Marcos administration’s infrastructure spending plunged by more than two-fifths in the first quarter, dealing a significant blow to state-led economic momentum as agencies tightened oversight following the high-profile corruption scandal. According to the latest national government...
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is studying the potential imposition of a suggested retail price (SRP) on locally produced regular and well-milled rice to temper price swings across the country driven by ongoing inflationary pressures. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the...
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is keeping the same volume of pork imports subject to a lower tariff rate under its revised minimum access volume (MAV) policy as it seeks to restore competitiveness in the market. “All of our regular MAV quotas will be the same as last year. It’s just the...
More than a decade after the World Bank approved financing for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project, the flagship urban transport initiative remains far from achieving its original objectives, with only a short section of the corridor substantially completed before the loan expires in...
The government is nearing the end of its year-long search for a private partner to manage its nationwide value-added tax (VAT) refund system (VRS) for foreign tourists, as the Department of Finance (DOF) moves to formalize the accreditation process for global operators. Bureau of Internal Revenue...
The Philippines is aiming to spend nearly $300 million, or 30 percent, of its record-high $1 billion loan from the World Bank (WB) this year to augment the budget needed for programs aimed at helping the agriculture sector cushion the impact of the oil crisis. Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel...
The Philippines will repay until 2044 its biggest-ever loan from the World Bank, which will bankroll a sweeping agricultural transformation program aimed at boosting food production, modernizing farming systems, and strengthening climate resilience. Documents showed that Finance Secretary Frederick...
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is prepared to provide up to $1.75 billion in additional financing to help the Philippines, its host country, manage the economic fallout from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. In a statement on Friday, May 15, the Manila-based multilateral lender said ADB...
More than 1.9 million government employees, including military and uniformed personnel, will receive their mid-year bonuses starting Friday, May 15, after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) began releasing the ₱73.5 billion allocated for the benefit. In a statement released on Friday,...
The Philippines dropped to 10th on the list of the United States’ (US) largest export destinations for agricultural products in 2025 after shipments declined by two percent due to weaker imports of wheat and processed vegetables. Based on its Agricultural Export Yearbook published last May 13,...
