Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos (OFs), which help drive consumption activities across the country, posted a new record high of USD3.6 billion in December 2023, up by 3.9 percent from the USD3.5 billion reported in December 2022.
The policy-making monetary board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday decided to keep its borrowing rate unchanged at 6.50 percent, confirming market forecasts. As at result, the interest rates on overnight deposits and lending facilities were kept at 6 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
Some of the more gullible among Filipinos easily fall for the latest pseudo-investment schemes to hit the sham market, called the task-and-recharge scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has since warned the public to stay away from on pain of losing the money in their pockets.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Tuesday renewed the call for the distribution utilities (DUs) to be diligent in validating costs imposed by the generation companies (GenCos) before passing them on to consumers.
Foreign direct investment (FDI), the kind welcomed by regulators because they stay invested for the long haul, flowed inward on net basis and rose 27.8 percent in November last year to USD1.0 billion. The inflows persisted from year-ago inflows of only USD820 million, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Monday.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Saturday warned retailers against hoarding essential goods and engaging in profiteering, saying such illegal practices will not be tolerated as global tensions threaten to drive up oil prices and logistics costs.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) launched a major regional development initiative on Thursday, with Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. personally overseeing the distribution of over P65 million in agricultural interventions to local farmers and fisherfolk in this town widely recognized as the “rice granary of Albay.”
The Department of Agriculture has imposed a temporary ban on the importation of domestic and wild birds—and their products—from Indiana following confirmed outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza strain.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has received the 2026 “Reserve Manager” award from Central Banking, recognizing the Philippine central bank’s improvements in handling the country’s foreign currency reserves.