Headline inflation rates in the Philippines (Aug. 2022)

Source BusinessWorld

Less than half of the Philippine work force is holding down a quality job, according to a report released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap)...

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Filipino consumers might not have noticed, but they had a bit of respite in August when the rate of increases in prices of basic commodities slowed slightly and for the first time in six months, to 6.3 percent from 6.4 percent in July, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)...

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The stalemate over the work-from-home (WFH) arrangement of registered information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) firms may damage the Philippines’ position as an investment destination, according to the head of an industry group...

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The inflation rate eased to 6.3 percent in August from 6.4 percent in July, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday showed...

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The University of the Philippines is preparing to administer the UP College Admission Test in 2023 for the first-year student intake for the academic year 2024 to 2025, UP Vice Chancellor Dr. Elena Pernia has said...

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The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) disputed the Fiscal Incentives Review Board’s [FIRB] claim that the extension of the work-from-home (WFH) set-up has no legal basis, saying it is “inconsistent” with the objective of attracting investors in the country...

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Lawmakers are calling for the swift approval of a measure that aims to safeguard the rights of freelance workers, whose numbers are expected to grow exponentially as the country transitions to a digital economy...

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Banks must continue to update their targeted financial sanctions (TFS) frameworks amid evolving terrorism and proliferation financing risks, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday...

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The House Committee on Higher and Technical Education referred a measure on Tuesday creating a council to address the skills mismatch in the workforce, underemployment, and unemployment to the Appropriations committee to verify that the resulting initiative can be funded...

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The inter-agency task force responsible for setting policies on the country’s COVID-19 response could decide by the end of the week on proposals to relax the national mask mandate that Cebu City continued to defy...

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China has become the first country to green-light an inhaled COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for potential use of the needle-free product in the country, where suppressing the spread of Covid-19 remains a top priority...

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The new inhalable COVID-19 vaccine developed by China-based CanSino Biologics has the potential to be of great help to Filipinos, the head of the Philippines’ vaccine expert panel said Wednesday...

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President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday said he discussed the possibility of securing coal and fertilizer supply from Indonesia during his meeting with President Joko Widodo...

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Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual urged Indonesian businessmen to invest in the Philippines, noting that the country offers attractive incentives to investors through the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law...

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The commandant of the United States Marine Corps visited Camp Aguinaldo on Monday as the US continues to assure its support to its ally while working to further strengthen defense and security relations with the country amid Manila’s maritime territorial issue with China...

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After his "very productive" state visit to Jakarta, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. expressed confidence that the agreements entered into by the Philippines and Indonesia will build "a peaceful and more united" Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)...

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Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday said he would consider a 2014 sea border deal with Indonesia to settle the country’s sea dispute with China...

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Suppliers of slot machines, baccarat table systems and other casino equipment are moving out of Macau to more welcoming markets, evidence of the damage China’s COVID Zero policy has wrought on the formerly bustling gambling hub...

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An American diplomat in Tokyo on Tuesday criticized China's "increasingly hostile maritime actions" as a threat to the safety of waterways in the resource-rich Indo-Pacific, as the United States seeks to strengthen security cooperation with allies Japan and the Philippines...

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The Philippine Army (PA) and the Australian Defense Force have concluded the month-long "Exercise Carabaroo" that bolstered participating units' combined arms capabilities in Darwin, Australia on Sept. 5, 2022...

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Russia has raked in a whopping 158 billion euros ($158 billion) in energy exports in the six months after sending troops into Ukraine, with the European Union accounting for more than half, a think tank said on Tuesday...

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The cryptocurrency market appears by some measures to be poised to break out of the narrowest trading range in almost two years...

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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major oil producers agreed on Monday to cut production for the first time in more than a year as it seeks to lift prices that have tumbled due to recession fears...

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Russia is buying potentially millions of artillery shells and rockets from communist North Korea to replenish its stocks depleted by invading Ukraine, the White House said Tuesday...

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The UN's atomic watchdog called Tuesday for a security zone to be set up around Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russia, as the area was hit by more shelling...

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The euro and yen sunk to new multi-year lows against the dollar on Tuesday as investors focused on central bank efforts to contain surging inflation and fears of an economic slowdown...

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More jobs await Filipinos as Singapore taps the Philippines for thousands of health workers after witnessing their abilities during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. revealed...

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Rescuers scoured through the rubble of remote villages in mountainous southwestern China on Tuesday in a race to find survivors of an earthquake that claimed at least 66 lives, with hundreds of people believed stranded or missing...

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The United States is likely to start recommending COVID-19 vaccines annually, health officials said on Tuesday, as new boosters designed to fight currently circulating variants of the coronavirus roll out...

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Ukrainian forces shot down five Russian cruise missiles on Tuesday, most of them in the south, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, but he made no mention of a new military success in the east hinted at by officials earlier...

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday welcomed a report by the UN nuclear watchdog that mentioned Russian military hardware presence at the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s biggest nuclear facility, which is occupied by Moscow’s troops...

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US President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday said it would be counterproductive to brand Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism,” rejecting calls from Ukraine and lawmakers to take the far-reaching action...

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Russia's Gazprom said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement to start switching payments for gas supplies to China to yuan and rubles instead of dollars...

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Europe's energy crisis is deepening as Russia further limits exports of natural gas, forcing governments to spend billions to protect businesses and consumers from soaring bills as the region slides towards recession...

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Who is lying? The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on Tuesday was put in a quandary on who was telling the truth over a supposed sugar import proposal of 600,000 metric tons (MT) allegedly floated by no less than President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., which Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez categorically denied, and one sugar miller described as a “lie.”...

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The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday said that around 30 percent to 40 percent of the 1.3 million earlier identified as “non-poor” households are likely to remain as beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)...

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday concluded his inaugural state visit here, bringing with him $8.48 billion worth of investment pledges and coal and fertilizer supply commitments from Indonesian businessmen as well as an assurance of enhanced economic and security cooperation from Indonesian President Joko Widodo, particularly in improving the country’s agriculture sector...

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Only around 850,000 households — not 1.3 million as originally planned — will be removed from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo told lawmakers on Tuesday, acknowledging that many on the list of potential 4Ps graduates remain poor...

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The COVID-19 positivity rates in some areas in Luzon and Visayas are gradually declining and approaching the World Health Organization (WHO) standard for controlled transmission of the virus, with five provinces easing back to moderate risk...

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. broached the idea of importing 600,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar during an Aug. 4 meeting with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), a resigned official of the agency told the Senate blue ribbon committee on Tuesday...

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Contact tracing conducted by business establishments at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic is possibly one of the culprits behind the spate of scam text messages sent to mobile phone users...

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COVID-19 vaccines continue to remain safe and effective even if their shelf life is extended by manufacturers, an infectious disease expert said...

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A member of the government’s vaccine expert panel on Tuesday warned that the relaxation of minimum public health protocols, such as the mandatory wearing of face masks, was “very dangerous” as it could lead to fewer people taking their booster shots and the more vulnerable getting hospitalized due to severe COVID-19...

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Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez has denied the insinuation that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. had mentioned about the possibility of importing 600,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar...

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Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday said he would consider a 2014 sea border deal with Indonesia to settle the country’s sea dispute with China...

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Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez has vehemently denied that he gave the go-signal to pass the controversial Sugar Order No. 4 during the resumption of the Senate hearing Tuesday...

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House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto revealed on Tuesday that there are four specialty hospitals in Quezon City subject to budget cuts in next year’s P5.268 trillion proposed national budget...

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The rice sector may get a funding boost next year as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) backed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s target to increase local farm production through a proposed ₱30.5 billion allocation...

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The 2023 national budget is "still on track" for approval at the House of Representatives by October 1, Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo said...

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The House Committee on Appropriations terminated on Tuesday its deliberations on the proposed 2023 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and its attached agencies – except for the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP)...

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The House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday said it is looking at more sources to accommodate government agencies’ requests for budget increases next year, as Speaker Martin G. Romualdez has committed to meet lawmakers’ self-imposed October 1 deadline to pass the national budget for 2023...

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The Marcos administration has appealed for executive clemency for Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino worker who has been on death row for 12 years in Indonesia over drug-related charges, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a video message Tuesday from Singapore...

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A lawmaker on Tuesday took the government to task for allowing contact tracing for COVID-19 to be done using multiple apps and databases, a practice that could be behind data breaches that flooded mobile phone users with spam text messages that incorporated their names...

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Philippine banks see double-digit growth in their assets, loans, deposits, and net income for the next two years as they expect the economy’s recovery to continue, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday...

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The Philippines will have sufficient power until December, though the outlook for 2023 will need to be reviewed because of volatility in the gas market, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said...

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The Philippine peso closed at a record low of P57 against the United States dollar at the Philippine Dealing System on Tuesday, the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) said...

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Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday it will also prioritize the digitization of financial products and services in the next two years...

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Banks in the Philippines maintained a positive growth outlook and are expecting double-digit expansion rates over the next two years, based on the latest semestral survey of industry leaders by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which covered the second half of 2021...

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The government rejected all bids for 3.5-year Treasury bonds at Tuesday’s auction as lenders asked for interest rates that are too high amid expectations of more rate hikes by central banks both here and the influential ones abroad...

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The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said on Tuesday it was working on establishing a satellite internet network covering different areas nationwide to promote economic recovery and inclusivity in isolated areas of the country...

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The global supply cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies and the steep devaluation of the Philippine peso may raise domestic fuel prices but not to the point of reaching high levels as seen in the early part of 2022...

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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported last Tuesday that the banking industry maintained a positive growth outlook amid lingering local and international challenges, its survey showed...

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Provision of subsidy to the poor is expected to ease up inflationary pressures and protect the purchasing power...

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