How inclusive is the Philippines’ digital economy?

Source BusinessWorld

The government's outstanding debt again ballooned to a fresh all-time high of P13.52 trillion in September, mainly driven by the issuance of government securities and the peso's weakening, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) reported on Thursday...

Read More

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it plans to raise its key policy rates by 75 basis points (bps) at its next meeting, matching the US Federal Reserve’s latest monetary tightening...

Read More

Headline inflation accelerated to 7.7 percent in October, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday, up from 6.9 percent in the previous month and the highest since December in 2008...

Read More

Emerging markets like the Philippines may be faring better than advanced economies like those in North America and Europe, but they should not be “fooled by resilience” amid growing signs of slowing growth with tougher times ahead, according to Moody’s Analytics...

Read More

The Philippines’ deficit in the trade of goods for a month narrowed to $4.82 billion in September from a record $6 billion in August, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority...

Read More

The Philippines holds the biggest foreign exchange (FX) cover among Asia’s biggest emerging economies, suggesting authorities have sufficient firepower to defend the peso from breaching P60 per dollar, according to Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ)...

Read More

Wearing of face mask in workplaces is no longer mandatory, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)...

Read More

Sixty percent of Filipinos approve of the law mandating the registration of SIM cards, a new survey from the Social Weather Stations suggested...

Read More

Cagayan de Oro lawmaker Rufus Rodriguez has proposed a measure that would declare as a protected area a large part of Philippine Rise. Rodriguez said on Thursday that he filed House Bill No. 5687, which would make the 352,390-hectare Benham Bank and its neighboring waters a protected area to be known as the Philippine Rise Marine Resource Reserve...

Read More

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday announced private companies have the free hand to require employees to wear face masks to curb possible Covid spread in the workplace...

Read More

Soon, the processing of foreign donations will not take more than a week to finish as the government seeks to hasten the delivery of services to disaster-stricken areas. The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said it was working with various government agencies to cut by half the processing period to seven days for the issuance of the Duty-Exempt Importation (DEI) Certification, a requirement of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) before nongovernment organizations (NGOs) are able to provide aid and relief services in the country...

Read More

Yes, there will theoretically be a price freeze on basic and prime commodities over the next six months. But no, it will not be nationwide and will exclude the products Filipinos usually serve on Christmas and New Year’s eves...

Read More

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced on Thursday the deportation of 21 more illegal employees of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO)...

Read More

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual highlighted the critical role of the Philippines in trading among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as the country seeks to further develop partnerships to boost the local economy...

Read More

International press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) included the Philippines in the top 11 countries in its annual Global Impunity Index, which was released on Tuesday...

Read More

While the Philippines continued to post a slight increase in motor vehicle production in the first nine months, its growth continues to lag behind the majority of its Southeast Asian neighbors...

Read More

Malacañang on Thursday lauded the efforts of the Department of Tourism (DoT) in the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) Show being held in the United States, which resulted in the Philippines being tagged as a "premier dive destination."...

Read More

North Korea unsuccessfully fired an intercontinental ballistic missile during a new salvo of launches Thursday, the South Korean military said, with Washington urging all nations to enforce sanctions on Pyongyang...

Read More

Ambassadors of the Nordic countries believe that the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to disrupt the food security supply chain worldwide....

Read More

A Russian-installed occupation official in southern Ukraine said on Thursday Moscow was likely to pull its troops from the west bank of the Dnipro River, signalling a huge retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war...

Read More

The dollar looked set to post its best week in over a month on Friday on expectations that U.S. rates could peak higher, while sterling was on the ropes as investors revised their rate projections after a shift in tone from the Bank of England...

Read More

Asian and European markets sank on Thursday after the Federal Reserve (Fed) hiked interest rates and its chief Jerome Powell suggested that these would go higher than expected, blowing a hole in hopes for a more dovish pivot in its fight against inflation...

Read More

Taiwan and the United States will hold in-person trade talks next week in New York under a new joint initiative announced in June, the US and Taiwanese governments said, a program opposed by China, which views the island as its own territory...

Read More

Local stocks tumbled yesterday, along with other Asian markets, after the US Federal Reserve added to recession fears by saying it wasn’t finished raising interest rates to cool inflation...

Read More

People with monkeypox can spread the virus up to four days before symptoms appear, with more than half of transmissions potentially taking place during this period, a UK study estimated Tuesday...

Read More

Elon Musk has directed Twitter Inc’s teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters, raising concerns that Twitter could go down during high-traffic events like the U.S. midterm elections...

Read More

British researchers announced Friday they have cured a man who was continually infected with Covid for 411 days by analysing the genetic code of his particular virus to find the right treatment...

Read More

Glaciers at many UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Yellowstone and Kilimanjaro National Park, will likely vanish by 2050, the UN agency warned Thursday, urging leaders to act fast to save the rest...

Read More

According to a survey of nearly 3,500 adults published by the Australian National University on Thursday, 25.1 percent of Australians are struggling to make ends meet on their current income...

Read More

The government released P663 million in calamity fund in October, with the remaining P8.8 billion ready to be tapped for disaster relief operations for the rest of the year...

Read More

The Philippines did not fail in the recent audit conducted by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) on the country's training program and accreditation system for seafarers, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista clarified on Thursday...

Read More

COVID-19 cases will continue to wane in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the surrounding areas now that the highly transmissible XBB variant has begun to peak, according to OCTA Research...

Read More

Private hospitals can be deputized by the government to procure and administer bivalent vaccines against Covid-19, Go Negosyo founder Jose Maria "Joey" Concepcion 3rd said...

Read More

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the estimated damage to infrastructure and agriculture from Severe Tropical Storm "Paeng" now stands at P5.2 billion...

Read More

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte told Department of Education (DepEd) employees not to “disparage” the agency online in a new policy intended to “depoliticize” and “promote professionalism” in the DepEd...

Read More

The COVID-19 positivity rate in the country is at 10.9%, according to Octa Research fellow Guido David. On Thursday, David said that up to 1,100 to 1,200 new COVID-19 cases are possible for Friday...

Read More

The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) remains part of the task force overseeing the country’s accreditation with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW)...

Read More

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Thursday issued a memorandum institutionalizing the “Wireless Mental Health and Psychosocial Support to Individuals and Families Affected by Crisis Situations (WiSUPPORT)” initiative, which aims to offer a methodical response and technology-based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support to the public...

Read More

Political leaders, journalists, teachers, and artists from Asia will meet at the Iloilo Convention Center on November 12 and 13 in a conference with the theme “building a democratic coalition against disinformation.”...

Read More

The retail prices of vegetables in Metro Manila markets have risen from P10 to P40 per kilo following the onslaught of Tropical Storm "Paeng."...

Read More

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe Medalla on Thursday preemptively announced that the Monetary Board would be raising key interest rates by 75 basis points (bps) when it meets on November 17...

Read More

The export marketing bureau of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has posted the latest list of potential trade barriers issued by the World Trade Organization (WTO), seeking comments from local exporters to avoid possible problems in future trade regulations...

Read More

The policy rate of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), currently at 4.25 percent, is now expected to reach 6 percent by the end of the first quarter in 2023 after the BSP announced in advance a 0.75-percentage point (ppt) policy rate hike on Nov. 17, according to Goldman Sachs...

Read More

The continued swelling of the Philippine national government’s debt stock has no end in sight yet as it reached a new record high of P13.52 trillion at the end of September, rising by 3.8 percent or P495.5 billion since the end of August...

Read More

The country needs more than urban gardens and educational campaigns to attain food security, and infrastructure is a key factor as well, according to a researcher from the state-owned Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS)...

Read More

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said he will pursue more major infrastructure projects after witnessing the signing of two contracts covering the construction of the Metro Manila Subway...

Read More

Inflation could have accelerated anew in October due to higher food and commodity prices, and fare hikes, economists polled by The Manila Times said...

Read More

Prices of culinary milk, cream, canned fruits, and cooking oils have increased in sari-sari stores, Packworks Sari IQ analytics platform showed, signaling a more expensive Noche Buena for most Filipinos this December...

Read More