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Newly appointed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Francis Ed. Lim on Tuesday raised alarm over the limited scale of the Philippine stock market, calling it "too small" relative to regional peers and pledging sweeping reforms to stimulate capital market growth.

THE House of Representatives has already transmitted the P200 daily minimum wage hike bill to the Senate and has designated its bicameral conference panel, signaling full readiness to finalize the measure, according to House spokesperson Atty. Princess Abante.

The country's foreign direct investment (FDI) posted net inflows of US$498 million in March 2025, a 27.8 percent drop from the US$689 million posted a year earlier, according to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Japan, the Philippines' third-largest trading partner, saw its economy contract by 0.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, according to revised government data released recently. While the updated figure marks an improvement from the earlier 0.7 percent decline estimate, it highlights a reversal from the 2.2 percent growth logged in 4Q 2024 and marks the first annual contraction in a year.

The country's gross international reserves (GIR) rose slightly to USD105.5 billion as of end-May 2025, up from USD105.3 billion a month earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The increase reflects continued strength in the country’s external sector and supports the BSP’s macroeconomic stability objectives.