Banking & Finance

Global demand for fuel is expected to remain weak for the first half of 2020 and may recover in the second half as economies start to open up after COVID-19 pandemic, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) plans to borrow P170 billion from the domestic market by issuing government securities.

Oil languished at multi-year lows, with WTI crude close to its weakest level since 2002, as dire warnings about a virus-triggered demand shock overshadowed massive output cuts.

A big number of businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), are planning to do rapid testing on their workers to fasttrack resumption of their operations.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and local economists expect the economy to post a deep contraction in the second quarter this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III rejected a call for government to consider a moratorium on its debt payment to raise more funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it ‘narrow-sighted’.

Government is considering a “rolling restart” and “rolling reopening” schemes for the gradual lifting of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine after April 30 to help jumpstart the economy while the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is being contained, according to a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

In its meeting last April 16, 2020, the Monetary Board (MB) decided among others to reduce policy rates by 50 basis points to 2.75% and interest rate on overnight lending facility to 3.25%. 

The Philippine peso recovered against the US dollar Thursday but the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) weakened after a lower-than-expected growth of the domestic economy in the second quarter this year.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia on Thursday called for the fast-tracking of infrastructure projects and passage of investment-oriented laws after the economy expanded at a slower pace of 5.5 percent in the second quarter.