Top News
IMF flags legal, cyber risks in digital peso push
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to strengthen its legal, operational, and cybersecurity foundations as it advances plans to explore a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), highlighting the growing complexity of building next-generation financial infrastructure.
Foreign currency reserves stand at US$104 billion in May; remains strong buffer for economy
The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) reached US$104 billion as at end-May this year, according to preliminary figures from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). This reflects a slight drop from the previous month, caused mainly by the national government withdrawing funds from its foreign currency deposits with the central bank to pay off foreign debts, lower value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to falling global gold prices, and net foreign exchange transactions carried out by the central bank.
BSP likely to tighten policy by 50 bps despite May inflation easing, amid persistent price risks
While headline inflation slowed to 6.8 percent in May from 7.2 percent in April, core inflation—which strips out volatile items—picked up to 4.1 percent from 3.9 percent, a key signal that underlying price pressures are strengthening, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said on Friday.
Transport costs cool, but core inflation firms in May
Philippine headline inflation eased to 6.8 percent in May from 7.2 percent in April, coming in below the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) projected range of 7.1 percent to 7.9 percent as transport costs and food price increases moderated, according to data released Friday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Senate elects new leaders as Escudero joins session
The Senate broke a two-day leadership deadlock on Wednesday after former Senate President Francis Escudero joined the chamber’s session, paving the way for the election of Sherwin Gatchalian as the new Senate president and the reorganization of key committees. The leadership change is expected to face legal and procedural challenges from allies of former Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who dispute the validity of the proceedings. Among the chamber’s first actions under the new leadership was the designation of a presiding officer for impeachment trials, except in cases involving the President, signaling efforts to restore the Senate’s legislative and constitutional functions after days of paralysis.
