MANILA, Philippines — Bank lending continued to grow in March, albeit at a slower pace as loan growth is expected to soften because of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ interest rate hikes that were meant to fight inflation. Excluding lending among each other, outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks advanced 10.1% year-on-year in March. This was […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines (Updated, 11:03 a.m.) — Unemployment fell in March, while the quality of jobs improved as the labor market tries to recover amid a reopened economy. Results of a nationwide survey of 11,093 households showed there were 2.42 million Filipinos who were either jobless or out of business in March, lower than 2.47 million unemployed persons recorded in February, the […]
Read MoreThe Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) [link] provided consumer price index (CPI) data for April and revealed that headline inflation had fallen to 6.6% from March’s 7.6% and February’s 8.6%. Core inflation, which excludes certain food and energy items, was only down slightly to 7.9% from March’s 8.0%. All of the analysts surveyed by BusinessWorld had predicted April’s CPI to […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — Philippine banks are in a stronger position to support the country’s recovery from the impact of the COVID pandemic, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The central bank highlighted in the Philippine Financial System for the Second Semester of 2022 report that the country’s financial system sustained positive performance and overall […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — Economists expect gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter to slow down sharply from 8.2 percent a year ago as elevated inflation and higher interest rates reined in consumer spending and capital formation. Alvin Ang, chair of the Department of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, said GDP expansion […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — New York-based GlobalSource Partners now expects inflation to settle within the 5.5 to six percent range, after easing to an eight-month low of 6.6 percent in April. GlobalSource country analyst for the Philippines Romeo Bernardo said the latest inflation projection for 2023 was lower than the think tank’s forecast three months ago. […]
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