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GMA Network
01-08-2025
- Business
- GMA Network
BSP doing comprehensive review of data gathering, surveillance methods
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday it is doing a comprehensive review of its economic data gathering and surveillance methodology to make its monetary policy stance and actions more responsive and timely. At a press chat in Manila, BSP Deputy Governor for Monetary and Economics Sector Zeno Abenoja told reporters that the central bank is recalibrating its surveys —such as the quarterly Consumer Expectation Survey (CES) and Business Expectation Survey (BES) — this year to integrate 'soft data' or 'granular details that can help us understand the hard data that we get.' Soft data, Abenoja said, include 'sentiment analysis on what people think… what prices will be over the near term, analysis on what could be driving their sentiment on inflation.' 'The consumer expectations and the business expectations survey, we think it will continue to be part of our core set of surveys on sentiment by the households and the businesses. We are reviewing it. We are reviewing the instruments. It's part of the regular review of the instrument. We want to improve the ease of filling up or getting more information. So we want it to be more streamlined while not sacrificing the information that we are able to gather,' the BSP official said. 'We are also reviewing the content itself if it is still relevant or if we need to add a few more questions on that,' he added. The CES and BES capture the outlook and sentiment of consumers and the business sector on the country's economic condition, providing the central bank data on both consumption and business activities to guide its conduct of monetary actions. 'So we're trying to improve a lot of things at the central bank including our ability to monitor what's happening on the ground real time and what it means going forward. It is important for several reasons. One, we want to make whatever policy recommendation we give to the Monetary Board be based on more solid information, more current information. At the same time we want to do more early warning exercises. So we can anticipate possible scenarios that could influence developments and of course impact our policy stance,' Abenoja said. Monetary policy or interest rates are among the tools used by central banks to stabilize inflation through controlling money supply by raising borrowing costs. For example, the BSP sets the overnight reverse repurchase rate or the key policy rate, in which the central bank borrows from banks to maintain price stability. This, in turn, impacts the country's money supply as it shifts money from banks into the central bank. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
Straits Times
31-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Firms in S'pore's services, manufacturing sectors are cautiously optimistic about outlook ahead
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Singapore manufacturers remain largely cautious about business conditions in the next six months, due to tariffs and economic uncertainty. SINGAPORE – Business sentiment in Singapore's services and manufacturing sectors have turned slightly more upbeat, although most firms are still largely cautious amid ongoing trade tensions and tariff uncertainties. According to the Business Expectation Survey released by the Department of Statistics on July 31, 17 per cent of firms are optimistic about business conditions from July to December , while 15 per cent are pessimistic. The rest expect conditions to remain the same. The percentages are weighted based on the companies' operating revenue and value added. Although only a weighted two percent more firms are expecting a better outlook, this is a significant turnaround from the -17 per cent reported in the previous survey for the April to September period. The most optimistic industries are accommodation, retail trade, as well as r ecreation, community and personal services. Hoteliers and retailers stand to benefit the most from concerts, trade and major sporting events like F1, which are set to pack the second half of the year. The year-end festive season is also likely to fill hotel rooms and boost retail sales. The accommodation industry also expects to increase hiring in the third quarter to keep pace with the arrival of more tourists for upcoming events. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No entry: ICA to bar high-risk, undesirable travellers from boarding S'pore-bound ships, flights Singapore 5 foreign women suspected of trafficking 27kg of cocaine nabbed in Changi Airport Singapore Over half of job applications by retrenched Jetstar Asia staff led to offers or interviews: CEO Singapore 17-member committee to drive roll-out of autonomous vehicles in Singapore Business Singapore gold investment soars 37% to 2.2 tonnes in Q2 while jewellery demand wanes Singapore Underground pipe leak likely reason for water supply issues during Toa Payoh fire: Town council Multimedia 60 years, 60 items: A National Day game challenge Singapore 'Switching careers just as I became a dad was risky, but I had to do it for my family' In contrast, the transportation and storage industry is foreseeing a more challenging environment for the rest of the year . Water transport firms, including freight shipping companies as well as tugboat and barge operators, are particularly cautious about the geopolitical uncertainties. They expect lower demand for their services due to front-loading activities, as many have rushed to ship goods ahead of anticipated US tariff hikes. Air and land transport firms, however, are more positive about their outlook. US tariffs and other policy uncertainties also continue to dampen confidence in the finance and insurance industry. Banks remain cautious, although payment processing firms expect a rise in transaction volumes and revenue driven by the e-commerce market's continual expansion. In another business sentiment survey by the Economic Development Board, also released on July 31, most firms – a weighted 85 per cent – expect a broadly similar operating environment in the second half of 2025. A weighted 10 per cent of them expect business conditions to improve, while a weighted five per cent foresee a weaker outlook. The electronics and precision engineering clusters anticipate stronger demand for semiconductors and related equipment amid the artificial intelligence boom. On the other hand, chemicals manufacturers remain concerned that trade policies could reduce export demand for their products. Along with the general manufacturing cluster, they do not project an increase in production for the rest of the year. In terms of the hiring outlook for the third quarter, the electronics, transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters plan to employ more workers, while others foresee their workforce to shrink or remain the same.
