Economy

Economists expect September inflation between 6.4 and 7.4 percent as typhoon-hit food supply, costlier fuel and a sliding peso compound — while the BSP's public position remains that it is watching.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue released 90.6% more in refunds from January to September than it did over the same period last year, with the commissioner citing cash-flow relief for businesses squeezed by the ongoing energy crisis.

Both downgrades fall short of Manila's own growth target, with S&P delivering the steepest cut among 14 economies it tracked and both institutions flagging the drag from a corruption scandal and a 32% drop in state infrastructure spending.

Weak growth, a widening current account deficit and a central bank pulling back from currency defense are set to push the peso to its weakest level ever in the fourth quarter, according to ANZ Research — with no comment yet from the BSP.

Oil industry sources say pump prices were set to climb sharply this week on tight global crude and shipping markets tied to Saudi-Houthi tensions — wiping out a rollback from three weeks earlier, with no word yet from the Department of Energy on relief for hard-hit drivers.

BSP data show a narrower August shortfall did little to offset a cumulative gap already worse than last year's full-year total, as a persistent trade deficit, foreign portfolio outflows and debt payments strain the country's external accounts.

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 97-2026 exempts a government-mandated pass-through cost from the 12% value-added tax starting this week — a narrower version of the bill relief President Marcos demanded in his July State of the Nation Address.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan says unemployment's climb to a four-year high and growth stuck below target show that how the country picks its leaders is holding back the economy, days after former House Speaker Martin Romualdez's arrest on a ₱7-billion plunder case.

BSP data show June cash remittances rose just 1.7% year-on-year — the weakest growth since February 2022 — as analysts point to Middle East geopolitical uncertainty and elevated living costs abroad, even as inflation at home stayed above target for a fourth straight month.

Government economists say a 32.4% collapse in public construction — tied to agencies' reluctance to approve projects after the flood-control corruption scandal — cost the economy roughly a percentage point of growth in the second quarter, pushing the debt-to-GDP ratio to 66%, its highest since 2004.