Day: April 8, 2025

Manila: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported preliminary data indicating that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) stood at USD106.2 billion as of the end of March this year. According to Philippines News Agency, data released late Monday revealed that the GIR level during the month experienced a slight decline from the USD107.4 billion recorded in February. International reserves, also known as GIR, consist of foreign assets held by the BSP, primarily as investments in foreign-issued securities, monetary gold, and foreign exchange. The BSP attributed the month-on-month decrease in the GIR level primarily to the national government’s drawdowns on

Manila: The country’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in three months, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed. In a briefing on Tuesday, National Statistician Dennis Mapa revealed that preliminary results of the latest Labor Force Survey indicated a decline in the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent in February from 4.3 percent the previous month. According to Philippines News Agency, this marks the lowest unemployment rate since the 3.1 percent recorded in December of the previous year. Mapa noted that the number of unemployed Filipinos decreased to 1.94 million from 2.16 million in January. Correspondingly, the employment

Manila: Department of Social Welfare and Development: Secretary Rex Gatchalian assured the public the agency is ready to dispatch family food packs (FFPs) and other necessary aid to families affected by another explosive eruption of Mt. Kanlaon early Tuesday morning. According to Philippines News Agency, Gatchalian stated that over 250,000 boxes of family food packs (FFPs) were prepositioned in the warehouses of DSWD’s Field Office (FO) 6 (Western Visayas) and 7 (Central Visayas) ahead of the ongoing explosive eruption. “As I speak, our Field Offices in Western and Central Visayas are closely coordinating with affected local government units (LGUs) so

Manila: The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is reaffirming its push for high-quality jobs, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Tuesday as the country’s underemployment rate declined in February this year. According to Philippines News Agency, NEDA’s statement came after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s underemployment rate, which measures workers seeking additional jobs or work hours, fell to 10.1 percent in February 2025 from 12.4 percent in February 2024. The quality of employment continued to improve year-on-year, with more workers engaged in full-time employment (+1.7 million), middle- and high-skilled occupations (+1.1 million),