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Metro Manila power rates rise in February

Meralco customers face potentially higher electricity bills in February as the company foresees an increase in generation charges. In a statement released on Monday, Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications, said that the weak peso is largely responsible for the expected hike. The local currency's depreciated state increases the cost of Meralco's suppliers, most of which are dollar-denominated costs.

The monetary authorities are expected to keep the rate at which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) borrows from or lends to banks unchanged when the monetary board (MB) meets on Thursday this week to decide which way interest rates go.

In a bid to ensure more efficient use of taxpayer money, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. announced the agency's new focus on projects that offer an internal rate of return (IRR) of 12 to 14 percent per year and a payback period of no more than seven years. This approach to budgeting and operations marks a shift towards prioritizing investments that are both bankable and profitable, with non-investment-grade projects to be deprioritized, regardless of their agricultural viability.

The country’s gross international reserves (GIR), an indicator of capacity to pay foreign currency ovligations, stood at USD103.0 billion at the end of January 2025, down from USD106.3 billion at the close of 2024, according to preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).