The World Bank warned that the Philippines’ broad-based economic slowdown in the first quarter of 2026 could spill over into weaker household incomes and higher food prices as the country grapples with an escalating energy price shock triggered by tensions in the Middle East. In its latest...
De La Salle University (DLSU) economists slashed their 2026 Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 3.11 percent from 3.79 percent previously, warning that the economy is facing mounting pressure from the Middle East conflict, elevated inflation, and lingering domestic...
Samarkand, UZBEKISTAN — Amid comparisons by some local firms claiming that the ongoing oil crisis triggered by the conflict in the Middle East is hurting their business operations more severely than the Covid-19 pandemic, economists from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the broader...
Samarkand, UZBEKISTAN — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said central banks should be cautious about raising interest rates too quickly in response to supply shock-driven inflation, even as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is now widely expected to tighten monetary policy further after April...
Headline inflation or annual price increases soared to a 37-month high of 7.2 percent in April, mainly as domestic fuel and food prices skyrocketed due to the global oil price and supply shocks caused by the prolonged war in the Middle East. The Philippine Statistics Authority ’s (PSA) latest...
Businesses have turned more pessimistic about the global economic outlook amid the ongoing United States (US)/Israel war with Iran, according to think tank Oxford Economics. In an April 30 report, Oxford Economics head of macro scenarios Jamie Thompson said the conflict in the Middle East is...
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...
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 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...
British banking giant Barclays has maintained its “underweight” rating on Philippine sovereign debt, following Fitch Ratings’ decision to downgrade the country’s credit outlook to ‘negative’ amid mounting fiscal and growth concerns. In an April 20 report obtained by Manila Bulletin,...
Philippine economic growth in 2026 would have hit the government’s downgraded target range had the war in the Middle East been short-lived, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). However, the Bangkok-headquartered UNESCAP said a...
