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).
A recent Social Weather Stations survey, conducted in partnership with the Stratbase Group, reveals that a majority of Filipinos believe rice saw the most significant price increase among food items in the past three months.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) will begin transferring select domestic turboprop routes from Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to Clark International Airport (CRK) and Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB) starting 26 October 2025, in compliance with a government mandate to reduce turboprop operations at NAIA.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) on Friday confirmed that construction of the second San Juanico Bridge (SSJB) is expected to begin in 2028, following key preparatory work supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding the project.
CIMB Bank Philippines, named Best Digital Bank in the Philippines by The Asian Banker, has rolled out a high-yield savings offer as part of its Earn More promo series, allowing depositors to earn up to 8.6 percent per annum on their savings throughout August this year.
Leading Philippine broadband and technology company Converge ICT Solutions Inc. was named among the Top 5 Publicly Listed Companies (PLCs) in the Philippines and one of the Top 50 PLCs in ASEAN at the 2025 ASEAN Corporate Governance Awards held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.