MANILA, Philippines —The Philippines’ dollar surplus hit a record-high last year, a feat that was not necessarily good news as it showed a weakened economy with less need for dollars as local demand struggled to gain ground. Dollars are typically used to settle external obligations like foreign debts and imports, and last year, inbound shipments […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) appears to be running out of ammunition after emerging as one of the most aggressive central banks in countering the impact of the pandemic, according to Moody’s Analytics. Erik Chiang, an associate economist at Moody’s Analytics, said inflation is now trending closer to the top end […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — The Philippines may rebound from the pandemic-induced recession this year with a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of seven percent, but full recovery may only happen in the third quarter of next year, according to global banking giant Citi. “We keep our 2021 GDP forecast at seven percent and expect a return […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — Local factories returned to expansion mode in the first month of the year, with manufacturers ramping up production as demand slowly get back to pre-pandemic levels. Results of a monthly survey of 400 companies showed the Philippines’ purchasing managers’ index — a measure of manufacturing output — rose to 52.5 in January, […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — Digital payments have emerged as the preferred mode of payment for online shopping in the country after overtaking cash last year, PayMaya said. PayMaya founder and CEO Orlando Vea said cashless modes of payment such as e-wallets, cards, and bank transfers have most likely reached a tipping point in 2020. Citing data […]
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is expected to ease the country’s policy stance further after emerging as one of the most aggressive central banks in the world in the fight against the impact of the pandemic. Kanika Bhatnagar, economist at ANZ Research, said the BSP is likely to reduce policy rate […]
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