Top News
Widening BOP deficit flagged as key risk to external stability
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday reported that the country’s external position, represented by the balance of payments (BOP), posted a deficit of USD2.6 billion in April 2025, sharply wider than the USD639 million shortfall recorded in the same month last year.
Moody’s strips U.S. of AAA Rating, citing debt surge
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the United States’ sovereign credit rating one notch from Aaa to Aa1, citing growing concerns over the country’s fiscal outlook, including surging debt levels and rising interest obligations.
DA enjoins NFA to ensure rice quality for P20 program
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. recently met with regional managers and key officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) to ensure the rice sold under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s P20-per-kilo rice program meets high quality standards.
Child labor number drop in 2024, sets new low
According data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the number of working children aged 5 to 17 dropped to 863,000 in 2024 from 1.09 million in 2023 and 1.48 million in 2022. This marks a significant milestone in the country’s fight against child labor, bringing figures even lower than the pandemic-era low of 872,300 in 2020.
Commerce, trade grind slowly at the San Juanico Strait
Alleged continued inaction by port authorities in Eastern Visayas have sent transport and trade and commerce authorities in Region 8 looking for solutions to the chaos created by the closure of the San Juanico Bridge to vehicular traffic exceeding three tons.
