OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT The BSP sustained its drive for its staff to produce more basic and applied research papers, and upgrade their level of engagement with other research-minded economists, think tanks and multilateral organizations. This, it did, through the recently-concluded 3rd BSP...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT It was about to be an existential crisis, that US deadlock over its debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion. If nothing came out of the negotiation between the White House and the US Capitol, the US would have defaulted for the first time in history. Although the Americans were not...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT It is quite rare that international financial institutions (IFIs) and economic think tanks share a consensus view on the Philippines’ economic prospects. But just recently it looks like there’s unanimity among them that our real GDP growth for the second quarter and for...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT With lower inflation forecasts for 2023 through 2025, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board decided to take a pause in its series of monetary tightening that started last year. This means its policy rate, based on the overnight reverse repurchase facility...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Last month’s IMF-World Bank spring meetings always reminded me of the visit of former Prime Minister (PM) Cesar Virata when I served as alternate executive director of the Fund in Washington, DC in 2001-2003. He had nobody to assist him. He himself called me up from the...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT It’s quite easy to understand for inflation watchers to consider a possible pause in the current monetary policy tightening cycle beginning this May. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has time and again indicated it is open to such a possibility should inflation...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT It was exhilarating, that experience to see the fabled rice terraces of the Cordilleras. Years ago, we managed to do both the western and eastern sides of Northern Philippines. In Ilocos Norte, we were just simply amazed at the beaches of Pasuquin and Pagudpud. They’re...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT It was timely for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to have further tweaked its hedging facility to mitigate what could be a sharp depreciation of the peso against the US dollar. Currency hedging is like having insurance to protect corporates against possible losses...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT After the International Monetary Fund-World Bank (IMF-WB) spring meetings last week, a fair question to ask is what’s next? If there’s anything that the world’s central bankers and finance officials could have brought home, it must be the IMF managing director...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Last Maundy Thursday, we concluded our column with a proposition that our advocacies for justice, growth and prosperity, moral integrity and greening the environment could only make sense “only when we transcend the world view that God’s creation is considered...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT One of the mysteries of our Christian faith is the victory of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. His death between two criminals is at the heart of the Gospel. But for many, even for some Christians, that is bad news. He could have chosen to flee rather than spent countless...
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT Climatelinks, a global knowledge portal on climate change and international development, could not have put it more precisely, that the Philippines is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, including sea level rise, increased frequency of extreme weather events...
