Philippine annual inflation at 1.4% in June
Economists in a Reuters poll had expected annual inflation of 1.5 per cent last month, within the central bank's forecast range of 1.1 to 1.9 per cent.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was unchanged at 2.2 per cent in June.
Inflation in the first half of the year averaged 1.8 per cent, within the central bank's 2 per cent to 4 per cent target for the year.
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Straits Times
4 hours ago
- Straits Times
Blistering heat, empty chairs and the C-word mar UN's flagship development event
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the opening segment of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, in Seville, Spain, June 30, 2025. REUTERS/Claudia Greco SEVILLE - Brutal heat scorched Spain this week, a blistering reminder of the climate change that is battering the world's poorest countries - stretching their finances even as government debt climbs to new heights. But at a once-a-decade UN development finance conference in Seville, two key ingredients were in less abundance: money and power. Just one G7 leader - France's Emmanuel Macron - attended the event, where he and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addressed rooms filled with dozens of empty chairs. Organisers initially said they expected 70 heads of state; that was whittled to 50 as the conference got underway. Back in Washington, Paris, London and Berlin, rich-country leaders are slashing aid and cutting bilateral lending in a pivot to defence spending and rising debt at home. "The mood is ... I would say realistic, but also a sense of unity and of pragmatism," said Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund of Agricultural Development, adding the question on everyone's mind this week was how to do more with less. "How can we come together, or think out of the box, or create new type of ways of really stretching it more?" The Financing For Development meeting is a flagship UN conference, charting the trajectory to help tackle changes the world must make to tax policies, aid spending or key areas such as debt, health and education. Its outcomes guide global aid funding and UN policies for the decade to come. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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But even top developing-world leaders Mia Mottley, the Barbados prime minister and prominent global climate champion, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, currently chairing the Group of 20 major economies, backed out of the event at the last minute. The media room was stacked with bored-looking Spanish press gossiping about a domestic political scandal while disillusioned civil-society leaders stalked the halls, upset with the watered-down agenda and the lack of fiscal or political firepower. "We are facing a backsliding of many agendas that we had advanced a few years ago," said Henrique Frota, director of ABONG, a Brazilian association of NGOs. "Developed countries are reducing their investment in (official development assistance) and European countries are not fulfilling their commitment ... they are giving less and less money right now for every kind of agenda." Event leaders were relieved to produce an outcome document - despite gnawing fears in the past months that Washington would torpedo any deal. In the end, U.S. officials backed out altogether. "The entire community was very afraid of coming here because one country wasn't attending," said UN Assistant Secretary General Marcos Neto. "But the document ended up working out ... I'm leaving happy, with more optimism than I thought I would leave with." Neto highlighted significant steps toward implementing climate and development goals, including the Seville Platform and multiple agreements from public and private sectors to leverage funds for the biggest possible impact. The Seville Commitment included tripling multilateral lending capacity, debt relief, a push to boost tax-to-GDP ratios to at least 15%, and get more rich countries to let the IMF use "special drawing rights" money for countries that need it most. But in Seville, only host nation Spain signed on to commit 50% of its "Special Drawing Rights" for the purpose. THE C-WORD UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed acknowledged that the attendance was not as star-studded as hoped, and that public funds are under pressure. "But there's innovative financing, there's the private sector, there's the triple lending of MDBs ... so the resources are there," she said. "We just have to have the political will to leverage through these mechanisms that have come out of the platform of action and continue moving with them." U.S. President Donald Trump, despite his country's absence, loomed large over the event; his climate change scepticism, hostility toward diversity initiatives and pledge to review U.S. participation in multilateral organizations made some keen to strip the "c-word" - climate change - and rebrand initiatives as focused on resilience, education or health. Still, some say the gloomy backdrop should not deter leaders focused on progress. "Ultimately the important thing is doing it," said Jose Vinals, former group chairman of Standard Chartered and co-chair of both the FFD4 Business Steering Committee and the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance. "The private sector is, for the most part, still willing to walk the talk." REUTERS
Independent Singapore
5 hours ago
- Independent Singapore
STI hits 4,019.57 just before Thursday's market close
Photo: Depositphotos/tang90246 SINGAPORE: The Straits Times Index (STI) hit a new high of 4,019.57 points just before the market closed on July 3, the second consecutive day the index ended above the 4,000-point level, The Edge Singapore reported. On July 2, the index closed above 4,000 points for the first time at 4,010.77. It stayed above that level throughout the session on Thursday (July 3) and reached an intraday low of 4,001.84 at 2 p.m. After 5 p.m., the STI surged to an all-time high and ended the day at 4,019.57 — up 0.22% from its opening level of 4,009.33. On Monday (June 30), STI started at 3,970.09 points. The top-performing stocks in the STI's 30-company list on July 3 included DFI Retail Group, which rose 4.98%, followed by City Developments, climbing 2.23%, and Hongkong Land, which edged up 1.74%. Meanwhile, UOL Group, which led the gainers the day before, fell 1.19%. Keppel DC REIT and Singtel also stumbled 0.86% and 0.77%, respectively. The last time the index broke the 4,000 mark was on March 28 , the first time it finally surpassed the level. The Business Times reported that the index hit a record 4,005.18 points just after the market opened that day. The Edge Singapore reported that the banking and telecommunications sector strongly contributed to the STI's breakthrough. /TISG Read also: FLCT posts 13.8% YoY drop in 1HFY2025 DPU to 3 cents Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
Indonesia resumes search for 30 missing ferry passengers
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Indonesia rescue team members sail on dinghies during a search operation for missing passengers, after the KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya ferry carrying 65 people sank near the Indonesian island of Bali, in Bali, Indonesia, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo GILIMANUK, Indonesia - Indonesian rescuers are battling strong currents on Friday as they resume the search for 30 people still missing at sea about 35 hours after a ferry sank killing at least six people, officials said. The ferry named KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya was carrying 65 people, all Indonesians, when it sank about 30 minutes after setting sail from East Java bound for the holiday island of Bali on Wednesday night, said search and rescue agency official Ribut Eko Suyatno. Twenty-nine survivors were rescued on Thursday before the search was called off due to poor visibility. Dayu Made Silawati, 55, said her husband, Dewa Gede Adyana Putra Usia, was travelling on the ferry to pick up supplies in Bali for his job as a truck driver. Waiting for news at a rescue centre in Bali, she said the last time she spoke to him was on Wednesday night. "'I just got on the ship,'" she recalled him saying. "I said to him, 'be careful', dear." At 4 a.m. on Thursday, Silawati said she called him again, and again. There was no answer. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Seller's stamp duty rates for private homes raised; holding period increased from 3 years to 4 Asia Japan urges evacuation of small island as 1,000 quakes hit region Singapore Multiple charges for man accused of damaging PAP campaign materials on GE2025 Polling Day Singapore Jail for man who recruited 2 Japanese women for prostitution at MBS World Trump eyes simple tariff rates over complex talks, says letters will start going out on July 4 World Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending Bill wins congressional approval Asia Indonesian rescuers widen search for missing after ferry sinks Business More Singapore residents met CPF Required Retirement Sum when they turned 55 in 2024 Rescue operations resumed on Friday in the waters of Bali Strait involving ships, helicopters, and hundreds of rescuers, Eko said. Strong currents and rain are expected. Transportation safety investigators would probe the cause of the sinking when the search is over, officials said. The ferry was not overloaded when it went down, officials said on Thursday. Ferries are a common mode of transportation in Indonesia, a nation of over 17,000 islands, and lax safety standards allow vessels to be overcrowded with inadequate life-saving equipment. REUTERS
