Philippines Cuts 2025 GDP Growth Target, Finance Chief Says
The Philippine government has cut its economic growth target for this year as the conflict in the Middle East added to risks from the impact of the Trump administration's global trade war.
The economy is now targeted to expand 5.5%-6.5% this year from a previous goal of 6%-8%, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said in a mobile-phone message on Thursday.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Buyout offers, hiring freeze coming for state government amid budget crunch
Gov. Wes Moore hands a pen used to sign the state's $67 billion fiscal 2026 budget to House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters) The Moore administration plans to slash about $121 million from the state's personnel budget through a combination of buyouts to state employees, a hiring freeze and elimination of at least 150 vacant positions, officials said Tuesday. The measures were announced in a 'Dear colleagues' letter from Gov. Wes Moore (D) to state employees that was sent at noon Tuesday. 'We are moving with care and intentionality to minimize impact on current employees and be transparent throughout the process,' Moore wrote in the letter. Moore Chief of Staff Fagan Harris said in an interview with Maryland Matters that state officials have been trying for weeks to come up with a plan to get the savings from the state's general fund, in accordance with the fiscal 2026 budget that the governor signed in May. 'It's going to be all of these things that help us get to the number, ultimately,' Harris said. As recently as two weeks ago, the administration was looking at layoffs of current workers as part of the budget-cutting mix, an administration official said at the time. But Harris said Tuesday that they were ultimately able to stop short of actual layoffs. Even so, the measures will hamper Moore's goal of growing the state workforce. When he took office in 2023, Moore pledged to rebuild state government, including by filling 5,000 positions left vacant by his predecessor, Gov. Larry Hogan (R). And Moore has recently pushed state agencies to hire former federal workers in search of new jobs amid the Trump administration's cost-cutting measures. Federal layoffs drag down state employment gains for second month, new numbers show As of the end of May, there were about 4,800 vacancies in all state agencies, a 9.3% vacancy rate, according to Raquel Coombs, a spokesperson for the Department of Budget and Management. The administration's plan excludes the University System of Maryland, which previously announced cuts. Also excluded from the hiring freeze are the state's '24/7' facilities, such as prisons, hospitals and juvenile facilities, as well as sworn state troopers, Harris said. Administration officials said they're still crafting the buy-out plan and choosing which vacant positions to eliminate, but those same positions are likely to be excluded. As part of Tuesday's announcement, the administration is also pushing state agencies to come up with 'creative' cost-cutting solutions, Harris said. That includes 'in-sourcing' contracted jobs and consolidating physical facilities, to the extent possible, he said. Harris said that non-union employees, including those in the governor's office, will not receive planned salary increases, such as merit raises and step increases. But they will receive a 1% cost-of-living increase in July. Patrick Moran, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 3 — which represents more than 26,000 state employees — said the state's ongoing issues with 'chronic understaffing, dangerous working conditions, and unsustainable workloads' must be taken into account as the final decisions are made on cuts. 'While it's clear our state must navigate tough and volatile times, any solutions cannot come at the cost of providing quality state services,' Moran said in a statement Tuesday. He said the union will push for cost-saving measures that 'prioritize our state services and the workers who make them happen.' 'That includes eliminating costly contracts, in-sourcing services where needed, addressing other inefficiencies, and closing corporate tax loopholes to raise much-needed state revenue,' Moran wrote. Del. Ben Barnes (D- Anne Arundel and Prince George's), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said he was pleased to see the governor take a path that did not include cuts of current staff. 'I'm very happy to see that there will not be furloughs or layoffs, as they're not warranted or necessary given our current fiscal picture,' Barnes said. Sen. Guy Guzzone (D- Howard), chair of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, hailed the governor's move as 'very reasonable and logical.' It should achieve the $121 million in needed cuts, but Guzzone warned that further cuts at the federal level could force state officials back to the drawing board. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'We don't know what else may come along — what other shoe might drop,' Guzzone said. 'But I think it's important to keep a level head and make reasonable decisions along the way. And I think this was a reasonable decision by the governor.' Barnes said that, based on data from the Department of Legislative Services, he believes the $121 million in savings could be achieved solely by slashing vacant positions. 'Anything beyond that would be additional actions the governor was taking,' Barnes said. Barnes said the state has reached a solid fiscal position, citing the state's triple-A bond ratings this year from Fitch and Standard & Poor's. Critically, though, Maryland lost its treasured triple-A bond rating this year from Moody's, the third major bond rating agency, which also downgraded half a dozen other state borrowing programs. Republican legislative leaders criticized the Moore administration for not enacting the hiring freeze sooner, even as the state's financial woes became clear. 'Back in February, I questioned the wisdom of expanding state government while facing a $2.8 billion deficit. I said then, and I repeat now: when you're in a hole, you need to stop digging,' wrote Sen. J.B. Jennings (Baltimore and Harford) in a statement. 'The decision to finally enact a hiring freeze and reduce vacant positions is the right one — but it should have happened months ago, before the situation became more urgent.' Jennings and other Republicans called for the freeze as early as February, in response to Moore's budget proposal. But Moore administration officials had balked at taking such a step. 'Let's be honest: this is the Moore Administration quietly admitting that Senate Republicans were right,' said Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll) in a statement. Moore's 'Dear colleagues' letter said the hiring freeze will begin July 1. Harris said it is likely to last at least through the fiscal year. The precise terms for voluntary separation agreements are likely to be released in the coming weeks, Harris said, adding that the administration does not yet have a goal for a number of buyouts. 'We want to drive as much adoption as we can, but there's no specific target,' Harris said. The administration is planning to bring a list of vacant positions to the Board of Public Works for elimination around September. 'We want to make it so that the public does not feel these changes,' Harris said. 'We certainly are aware of a large universe of savings there, but we're going to be really careful and intentional this summer, as we work through this to achieve as many savings as we can responsibly.'
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
The US economy shrank much faster in the first quarter than previously reported
The US economy contracted in the beginning of the year at a much faster pace than previously reported, as tariff fears took a much greater toll on economic growth. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, registered an annualized rate of -0.5% from January through March, the Commerce Department said Thursday in its third and final estimate. That's worse than the 0.2% decline reported in the second estimate. GDP is adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Reeling from Trump rebukes, Europe weighs deeper ties with China
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Jilted, betrayed, dumped, or defiant. It's hard to describe the European Union after relentless attacks from its once-dependable ally, the United States. The threat from Donald Trump's second administration against Greenland, its sweeping tariff plans and courtship of Moscow have firmed up some European leaders' vows to reduce their reliance on America. That has not gone unnoticed in another global power. China hopes for a Europe detached from the U.S. and is sensing an opportunity now to divide the West. For the past several years, the EU moved in lockstep with Washington to levy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and sanction Chinese officials accused of rights violations. Now, locked in a trade war with Washington that may be prolonged, Beijing sees the 27-nation bloc as a desirable partner in blunting the impact from Trump's tariffs and to maintain its strong global position. But for EU leaders, meeting Thursday in Brussels to discuss China among a host of regional and global issues, managing ties with Beijing is no easy matter. An upcoming summit in China in July to mark 50 years of ties might offer the first hint of new consensus between these two global behemoths. Europe's hopes for China The EU-China economic ties are hefty: bilateral trade is estimated at 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) per day. China is the EU's second largest trading partner in goods, after the United States. Both China and the EU believe it is in their interest to keep their trade ties stable for the sake of the global economy, and they share certain climate goals. Like the U.S., Europe runs a massive trade deficit with China: around 300 billion euros last year. It relies heavily on China for critical minerals, which are also used to make magnets used in cars and appliances. As European companies are seeing declining profitability in China, Brussels is hoping Beijing will follow through on recent pledges, like one announced Thursday by the Ministry of Commerce, to ease restrictions on foreign business ventures. 'While other opened their market, China focused undercutting intellectual property protections, massive subsidies with the aim to dominate global manufacturing and supply chains,' said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the G7 meeting in Canada. 'This is not market competition – it is distortion with intent." Now, Europe, already fretting over the trade deficit, worries that Trump's tariffs could divert even more Chinese goods to Europe, destabilizing markets across the continent. Such vulnerabilities could strengthen Beijing's negotiating position, said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a China analyst with the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank. 'China has built so many strategic dependencies that the EU is trapped in an asymmetric relationship,' she said, and Beijing could leverage them to 'get a deal in July" at the summit. Beijing's new strategy for Europe Analysts don't expect a grand bargain at the summit, but China will likely demand the EU lift tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles or even reopen the bilateral trade treaty, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. Either or both would send a powerful signal to Washington. But China's main goal is ensuring the EU remains an accessible and affluent market for goods that might not reach the U.S. because of Trump's tariff blitzkrieg. Despite a truce in the trade war, Chinese businesses are widening their global reach to be less dependent on the U.S. Regardless of any deal, the summit itself will be the message, said Noah Barkin, an analyst of Europe-China relations at the German Marshall Fund think tank. For the EU, the main goal would be for von der Leyen to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said. Whereas she was 'treated rather shabbily' on a 2023 trip to Beijing, Barkin said the Chinese this time will probably 'roll out the red carpet," keen to see 'pictures of Chinese and European leaders walking through gardens and sending a message of unity.' Sun Chenghao, head of the U.S.-EU program at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy, expressed hope 'that the future of China-Europe relations can be more independent on both sides.' 'For Europe, that would mean shaping its China policy based on its own interests, rather than simply taking sides,' Sun told the German Marshall Fund in a podcast. 'And for China, this means building a more independent and nuanced approach to Europe.' 'It is precisely because most European decision-makers realize the necessity of strategic autonomy that they have made it clear that they must strengthen cooperation with China," said Yan Xuetong, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University, to The Paper, a Shanghai-based news site. "Even if China and Europe have differences on the Ukraine issue, there is still room for expanding cooperation in areas beyond the differences.' Obstacles in EU-China ties China's deepening ties with its historic allies in Europe like Hungary and Greece stand alongside fears across the continent about its human rights record, espionage, trade policies, military buildup and support for Russia. European police arrested employees of the Chinese tech giant Huawei during an ongoing bribery investigation in Brussels. Czech intelligence services have claimed Beijing directed cyberattacks on its critical infrastructure. And the EU's criticisms of China's human rights violations remain unabated. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has further disaffected Europe from China. Despite Beijing's claims of neutrality, Europe largely sees China as complicit in, if not covertly supporting Russia's war machine. The EU recently cancelled a high-level economic and trade dialogue with China, due to a lack of progress on trade disputes. It also has moved to restrict Chinese participation in EU medical devices procurement. U.S. warns Europe not to get closer to China U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called out Spain for its courtship of China, warning that countries seeking to get closer to China would be 'cutting their own throat' because Chinese factories will be looking to dump goods that they can't ship to the U.S. By decoupling their positions on China, analysts say both Brussels and Washington have weaker hands dealing with Beijing. And that might hurt the U.S., which has vowed to prevail over China and retain its global dominance but, as many believe, needs help from its allies and partners. 'If we could just get Japan and the EU and the U.S. together on any issue, ... we could outweigh the Chinese at the negotiating table,' said Nick Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China in the Biden administration. 'President Trump, I think, because of his inattention to our allies and maybe even worse, his sometimes just acrimonious behaviors towards allies, has given away that leverage.' Joerg Wuttke, former president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China and now a partner at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington, argued that the fundamentals underlining EU-China relations have not changed as long as China does not take genuine steps to open its market and that the EU remains 'geared towards' the U.S., though he described Washington as a 'major backdrop noise.' 'We are not allies. We are trading partners,' Wuttke said of EU and China. 'And, so from my point of view is, what is there to worry for the United States?' — Tang reported from Washington. Didi Tang And Sam Mcneil, The Associated Press
