July inflation accelerates to 4.4%

Headline inflation in July reached its highest rate in nine months, driven by higher price increases in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, transport items, and food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

Preliminary data from the agency showed the consumer price index grew by 4.4 percent year on year in July, accelerating from the 3.7 percent in June, but slower than 4.7 percent in the same period last year.

This is within the 4 to 4.8 percent forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the month, however, it was higher than the 4 percent average inflation forecast in an Inquirer poll of 11 economists conducted last week.

Inflation print in July marked the fastest growth in nine months or since the 4.9 percent logged in October 2023.

This marked the first time that the inflation breached the central bank’s 2 to 4 percent target range for the year.

For the first seven months, inflation averaged 3.7percent, still lower from the 6.8 percent in July 2023.

Source: Inquirer

PHL 73rd in strength-of-passport ranking

The Philippine passport was ranked 73rd in terms of visa-free access to other countries, according to the Henley Passport Index (HPI).

HPI reported that the Philippine passport grants its holder visa-free access to 67 countries.

“The Philippine passport has been fairly consistent on the Henley Passport Index with a slight trend upwards,” Henley & Partners Managing Director and Head for Southeast Asia Scott Moore said in a briefing.

“The Philippine economy is growing on average between six to seven and a half percent annually over the past decade, and we anticipate this growth will continue.”

He noted the ”strong correlation” between a country’s visa-free tally and its economic prosperity.

The Philippines ranked 83rd in 2021, 77th in 2022, 78th in 2023, and 73rd in January and July 2024.

Philippines's Global Access

“As the economy continues to grow and develop, the passport score should continue to trend upward. It’s important to keep in mind that the Philippines is growing definitely at a higher rate than the established Western countries,” Mr. Moore said.

The visa-free destination count of 67 represented a fall of two countries after Armenia and Togo changed their rules from “visa-on-arrival for everyone” to “e-visa for everyone,” he said.

Singapore was rated the “strongest” passport with visa-free access to 195 countries, while Afghanistan was at the bottom of the list, placing 103rd with a visa-free tally of 26 countries visa-free.

“The gap is widening between countries at the top of our index and countries at the bottom of the index, which right now is Afghanistan… that is a gap of 169 countries, which is also larger than it ever has been before,” he said.

France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain dropped to joint second place with visa-free access to 192 countries.

Meanwhile, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden were at joint third with visa-free access to 191 countries.

This was followed by Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK were in joint fourth with visa-free access to 190 countries.

Australia and Portugal were tied for fifth with visa-free access to 189 countries.

Source: Manila Times

The number of jobless Filipinos grew for the third straight month

The number of jobless Filipinos grew for the third straight month in May, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Monday.

The country's jobless rate slightly increased to 4.1 percent in May from 4.0 percent in April. This is lower than the 4.3 percent in the same month last year.

This translates to 2.11 million unemployed Filipinos, 70,000 more than April's figure of 2.04 million.

This is the highest increase since January 2024 when the jobless rate was 4.5 percent.

Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts those looking for more work or an extra job — was down to 9.9 percent from 14.6 percent in April and 11.7 percent in the same month last year.

The number of underemployed was equivalent to 4.82 million. These are people "who have expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional jobs, or to have a new job with long hours of work."

The PSA said the number of individuals with jobs reached 48.87 million, higher than last year's 48.26 million and April's 48.36 million.

The services sector hired the most number of workers in May for a share of 61.1 percent in the labor market.

The country's Labor Force Participation Rate in May was 64.8 percent, higher than April's 64.1 percent.

Source: Manila Times