The Philippine employment rate dipped to 94.7 percent in July 2025 amid the entry of 1.7 million new workers into the labor force, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Wednesday, Sept. 10. The July Labor Force Survey showed the unemployment rate rose to 5.3 percent from 4.7...
Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) expects lower interest rates to lift Philippine economic growth in the near term, despite lingering global challenges that would likely expand the domestic economy below the government’s goal for the year. In its Quarterly Global Outlook report for the...
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Saturday, September 6, said hunger among Filipino families has fallen to its lowest level in years, attributing the drop to its Walang Gutom Program (WGP). Citing the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, Assistant Secretary Baldr...
Despite last month’s spike in consumer prices, the steady decline in rice costs is seen to keep a lid on inflation, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expecting it to average below two percent this year. Inflation quickened to 1.5 percent in August from 0.9 percent in July—the slowest...
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,...
Despite recent pronouncements by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that one more policy rate cut before year-end would maintain the “Goldilocks” level, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) still forecasts two more reductions at each of the two remaining Monetary Board (MB) interest rate...
Consumer prices may have risen at a faster pace in August, the central bank projected, as recent typhoons and excessive rainfall likely stoked the cost of basic goods, especially food items. Last month’s inflation is expected to clock within the range of one percent to 1.8 percent, according to...
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...
Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to cut key interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) on Thursday, Aug. 28, amid low domestic inflation and slower economic growth. In an Aug. 22 report obtained by Manila Bulletin, Goldman Sachs Economics Research...
Germany-based Deutsche Bank said a quarter-point rate cut on Thursday would help support Philippine economic activity, following the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) revised forecast that the negative output gap will persist until 2027. “We see the BSP lowering its policy rate by 25 bps...
TACLOBAN CITY — Northern Samar emerged as the top province in Eastern Visayas for labor and employment in 2024, preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Region 8 said. The province had a 98.1 percent employment rate and the lowest unemployment rate at 1.9 percent. It also...
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...
