Business Intelligence
The 2025 National Elections have been touted by some observers as the inevitable ugly end to the alliance between President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte. Both camps were expected to field their own slates, powered by each official’s popularity and support bases, and battle it out on the ballot. This was expected …
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has ordered all raw sugar output for the coming crop year be dedicated to the domestic market. Under Sugar Order (SO) No. 1, 100 percent of local production shall be classified as “B,” designated for the local market. According to the SRA, total raw sugar production for Sept. 1, 2022 to Aug. …
Cash remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hit a 7-Month high USD 2.917 billion (PHP 167.34 billion) in July, up 2.3 percent year-on-year, and up 5.9 percent from June’s USD 2.755 billion (PHP 158.05 billion) total. This was the highest monthly total since December, which saw USD 2.987 billion (PHP 171.36 billion) in remittances, but was also the …
Last week, Moody’s Investors Service reaffirmed the Philippines’ “Baa2” credit rating, with a “stable,” outlook. While Moody’s stated that “challenging global credit conditions will not derail the Philippines’ ongoing recovery from the coronavirus pandemic…” they also admitted that “the severity of the pandemic shock has led to an erosion in the rating agency’s assessment of economic strength.” …
August 23, 2022
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) moved in line with expectations last Thursday, August 18, raising its key benchmark interest rate by 50 basis-points (0.5 percent). Interest rates had been at a record-low 2 percent as part of the government’s ...
August 23, 2022
Approved foreign investment pledges more than doubled in Q2 2022 compared to the same period last year, with the total value of foreign commitments PHP 46.231 billion (USD 825.10 million) for the quarter, up 105 percent from the PHP 22.503 ...
August 23, 2022
The Marcos administration has submitted which is the first full-year budget, amounting to a record PHP 5.268 trillion (USD 94.02 billion) national budget for 2023. The proposed budget is 4.9 percent higher than this year’s budget, and amounts to 22.2 ...
August 23, 2022
The Philippines’ balance of payments (BoP) position fell further into deficit for a fourth straight month in July at USD 1.819 billion (PHP 101.91 billion), with more US Dollars flowing out of the country to pay for the government’s foreign ...
July 26, 2022
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his inaugural State of the National Address (SONA) on Monday (full text). Marcos began his speech by immediately outlying his administration’s economic roadmap – first acknowledging the “economic scaring” caused by COVID-19 as well as the need to “prepare for future shocks.” Macro-Economy Mr. Marcos stressed the need to attract …
July 19, 2022
The Philippines’ trade deficit expanded to USD 5.68 billion (PHP 319.69 billion) in May – with imports growing at the fastest pace in five months but exports stalling. Imports climbed by 31.4 percent year on year to USD 11.989 billion (PHP 674.79 billion) – mostly due to higher costs for imported fuel. May’s import growth …
July 19, 2022
Last week, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised its key benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points (0.75 percent), in a move that was seen as a welcome surprise in the effort to tame inflation and weakening local currency. The new key benchmark rate of 3.25 percent was last seen in March 2020. The …
July 12, 2022
The Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may raise interest rates by 50 basis points (0.5 percent) in August, according to BSP Governor Felipe Medalla. BSP Governor Medalla stated that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s own hawkish stance had put “strong depreciation pressures [on the Peso]…which left unchecked, could add to the already high domestic inflationary pressures.” …
July 12, 2022
Unemployment in May rose to 6 percent – a three month high, while underemployment also deteriorated during the month. The higher unemployment and underemployment figures were attributable in part to an increase in the labor force, which was 64 percent in May, compared to 63.4 percent in April (a difference of 618,000 job seekers). Additionally, …
July 12, 2022
Manufacturing activity in the Philippines grew for its 14th straight month in May with the volume of production index (VoPI), inching up by 1.9 percent year-on-year. Much of this growth reflects the country’s continued economic reopening and emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic. “According to ING Bank Manila Branch senior Economist Nicholas Mapa, “economic reopening has …
July 12, 2022
The newly installed Marcos administration economic team has lowered the government’s GDP growth target for 2022 to 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent. The outgoing-Duterte Administration (which many of the current economic team also served in) had previously targeted 7 percent to 8 percent GDP growth for this year. Nevertheless, Secretary of Finance (and previous BSP …
July 5, 2022
In one of his first official acts as President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vetoed the proposed Bulacan Airport City Special Economic zone and Freeport bill – citing “substantial fiscal risks to the country.” The Marcos camp, through Press Secretary Rose Cruz-Angeles clarified that “Mr. Marcos fully supports the Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport,” …
July 5, 2022
Inflation for the month of June registered at 6.1 percent – accelerating past the 5.4 percent recorded in the previous month. This was the highest rate of inflation seen since September and October 2018 when inflation notched 6.9 percent due to rice supply shortages and currency depreciation. The Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) however predicted …
July 5, 2022
With the Philippine peso rapidly depreciating, the government’s new economic managers sought to downplay the risks to the economy. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Balisacan told the press on Monday that “it was not something we need to worry much [about],” arguing that “we still have to see how that depreciation relates with our neighbors, with our …
June 28, 2022
Last Wednesday, the Philippine Peso fell to its lowest level against the U.S. Dollar since November 2005, trading at PHP 54.47 to USD 1.00. The Peso has been in a state of consistent depreciation since the summer of 2021, and accelerated significantly since the onset of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine-induced global commodity crisis. Analysts …
June 28, 2022
Last Wednesday, the Philippine Peso fell to its lowest level against the U.S. Dollar since November 2005, trading at PHP 54.47 to USD 1.00. The Peso has been in a state of consistent depreciation since the summer of 2021, and accelerated significantly since the onset of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine-induced global commodity crisis. Analysts …
June 28, 2022
Recommended Reading: The Oligarchs Likely to Benefit Most Under Bongbong Marcos PSA recommends Alvin Camba’s’s recent article for Nikkei which outlines the oligarchs that are best poised to benefit from the incoming Marcos administration. Camba outlines the complex an often overlapping nature of Filipino elite competition in the shared but also often distinct realms of …
June 14, 2022
The Philippines may need at least a decade to return to its pre-pandemic debt-to-GDP ratio, said outgoing Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III. Speaking during a briefing last week, Secretary Dominguez stated that “it could take us a minimum of ten years to get back” to a debt-to-GDP ratio of 40 percent, which Dominguez referred to …
