The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) climbed to US$109.7 billion at the end of October 2025, up from US$109.1 billion in September, according to preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The Philippine economy expanded 4.0 percent in the third quarter, its slowest pace since the COVID-19 pandemic, as household and government spending were weighed down by bad weather and a high-profile corruption probe into public works projects, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported Thursday.
The average price of electricity at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) soared by 49.4 percent in October, reaching ₱4.54 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from ₱3.04/kWh in September, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP).
The country’s unemployment rate inched up to 3.8 percent in September 2025 from 3.7 percent a year earlier, equivalent to 1.96 million Filipinos without work, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Thursday. Despite the slight uptick, the number of jobless declined from 2.03 million in August, suggesting some improvement in hiring momentum.
Lending by universal and commercial banks (U/KBs) continued to grow in September, alongside faster domestic liquidity expansion, according to preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).