Top News

The Philippines' unemployment rate decreased to 4.3 percent in January, down from 4.5 percent in the same period last year, as the economy continued to create more jobs to accommodate new entrants to the labor force, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report on Thursday.

Foreign arrivals in the Philippines declined 7 percent in February, totaling 541,008, as the number of tourists from South Korea—the country’s primary market—continued its sharp slide.

Inflation in the Philippines for February defied expectations, slowing to a lower-than-anticipated 2.1 percent, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This marked a significant drop from January’s 2.9 percent and was below the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) forecast range of 2.2 percent to 3 percent.

The World Bank and the Philippine government are moving forward with a landmark agreement that could reshape the country’s agriculture sector. At a recent meeting, agriculture secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. and World Bank country director Zafer Mustafaoglu reviewed the progress of the Philippine Sustainable Agricultural Transformation (PSAT) loan program, with the goal of finalizing the USD1 billion loan agreement in July.

The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) announced on Tuesday that it expects to implement a fully cashless and interoperable toll system across all expressways by the end of the year. This decision follows a brief suspension by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), which had initially ordered a delay for further review.