Day: May 2, 2024

The U.S. Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate steady for a sixth consecutive time during a monetary policy meeting on Wednesday as stickier-than-expected inflation has dampened prospects for rate cuts in the near future.

After the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the central bank announced the decision to maintain the rate in the 5.25 to 5.50 percent range.

The key rate has remained unchanged since a quarter percentage point increase to the current level in July. Before the freeze, the central bank carried out an aggressive rate-hiking campaign launched in March 2022 to bring down inflation.

In March, FOMC members’ latest median economic projections signaled the possibility of three quarter-percentage-point cuts this year. But stubborn inflation data have raised questions over when and how much the Fed would trim the rate this year.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to put labels on local and imported rice to prevent the mixing of rice varieties.

In an interview, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said labeling rice in retail markets ‘provides the needed information to consumers who want locally-produced or imported rice varieties.’

‘That’s very important. We also plan to check on mislabeling activities on the ground,’ he said.

“Definitely, may mga ganyang posibleng mislabeling. Paghaluhin, kung mas mura iyong isang klase ng bigas tapos ihahalo doon sa mas mahal tapos ibebenta nang mas mahal (there’s the possibility of mislabeling. The cheaper class or rice is mixed with the more expensive, then it’ll be sold at the higher price),” De Mesa noted.

Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives national manager Raul Montemayor agreed with the DA official, noting that some imported rice looks similar to local produce and can easily be mixed.

He also pointed out that while some traders typically blend rice ‘to satisfy t
he requirements of their market,’ unscrupulous traders are known to ‘re-bag’ imported rice and sell it as local rice to gain higher profits.

As of Thursday, the imported regular milled rice ranges from PHP48 per kilogram to PHP51/kg; and well-milled rice ranges from PHP51/kg to PHP54/kg.

On the other hand, the local regular milled rice is pegged at PHP50/kg while the well-milled rice ranges from PHP48/kg to PHP55/kg.

Montemayor said this is due to the price dynamics between the lowering trend in the global price of imported rice, and the increasing trend in farmgate prices, which ranges from PHP27 to PHP30.

‘It’s like a gamble on the part of the local traders that they will buy palay at a high price, knowing na pagdating nila sa retail, makakalaban nila iyong imported rice na medyo pababa ang presyo (that when it comes to the retail market, they will be going against the imported rice that is getting cheaper),’ he said.

Meanwhile, the DA assured that it is looking into the gap between the farmgate and re
tail prices of rice.

“Iyon ang pinag-uusapan, pinag-aaralan bakit mataas talaga iyong presyo despite na hindi naman ganoon kalaki, kataas iyong presyo sa farmgate (That’s what we are talking about, we are reviewing why the [retail] price remains high despite the fact that the farmgate prices are not that high),’ De Mesa said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The presidential office said Thursday it will launch two task forces to handle price control measures and support for national strategic industries, such as semiconductors and autos.

Sung Tae-yoon, director of national policy at the presidential office, unveiled the plan during a press briefing, saying the aim is to maintain economic growth momentum by drawing on the resources of all ministries and local governments, not simply those of economy-related ministries.

“By activating a national support system involving all ministries, beyond the economy-related ministries, we will provide utmost support to core industries while stabilizing prices affecting people’s livelihoods,” he said.

The task force for national strategic industries will provide organic support from across ministries to sectors with the biggest impact on the national economy, including the semiconductor, auto and shipbuilding industries.

The three industries together account for 23.5 percent of all manufacturing output and 16 percent of job
s, while their share of the country’s total exports has also increased, Sung noted.

Meanwhile, the task force for price control will be charged with discussing and implementing structural measures to stabilize the prices of goods with large price variability, such as farm products and seafood.

Both task forces will be led by Sung.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The Philippines, through the Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP), has partnered with the government of Canada to find nature-based solutions for adapting to climate change.

During the program launch of the Philippines-Canada Partnership on Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation (PCP4NbS) in Makati City on Thursday, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga cited the critical and urgent need to build capacity for adaptation.

She said the partnership will help strengthen the resilience of Filipinos, especially rural and indigenous women, against the impacts of the interconnected crisis due to the impact of climate change, loss of biodiversity, degradation and diminishing of the green and blue forests, and pollution, on the resilience and sustainability of the country.

It will also includes the sharing of knowledge, expertise, and resources in assessing protected areas and in applying science and new tools to ensure ecological integrity.

‘What decades of use
, misuse, neglect, and disruption have done cannot be recovered in months. But with honest, respectful, and evidence-informed partnerships like these, we remain undaunted at the DENR,’ Loyzaga said.

‘These allow the DENR in this administration to know where to start and what must be done to protect our vast office –that is – 30 million hectares of land, 15 million hectares of classified forests, over 7 million hectares of protected areas, 36,000 kilometers of coastline and 2.2 (million) square kilometers of territorial seas,’ she added.

Loyzaga said that while mitigation has been strategic for climate-vulnerable countries like the Philippines, there is still an urgent need to build capacity for adaptation.

Loyzaga said the Philippine government has presented the completion of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) at the 28th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC).

She explained that based on the NAP, inaction on adaptation within the 2030 decade is estim
ated to cost around PHP1.4 trillion, or about 8 percent of 2020 gross domestic product.

‘Nature-based solutions are critical to our arsenal and must be rooted in the best available science as well as indigenous and local knowledge. Scaling up is part of the thematic areas that we address in the NAP, and this particular project is well within those areas,’ Loyzaga added.

With these initiatives, she expressed optimism toward the protection and rehabilitation of biodiversity, critical habitats, and ecosystems amidst the impending climate hazards and the climate vulnerability of communities.

Meanwhile, the DENR has taken a whole-of-government approach in crafting new evidence-informed plans on adaptation and has shifted towards building new non-traditional whole-of-society approaches to solutions.

Loyzaga said that with the partnership, she looks forward to targeting three wins: biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, gender equality, and the resilience of communities in the context of natural r
esource management.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Today (%) Previous Session(%) Change (BP)

1-year TB 3.462 3.470 -0.8

2-year TB 3.503 3.518 -1.5

3-year TB 3.509 3.529 -2.0

10-year TB 3.638 3.656 -1.8

2-year MSB 3.501 3.517 -1.6

3-year CB (AA-) 3.972 3.995 -2.3

91-day CD 3.570 3.570 0.0

Source: Yonhap News Agency