PMI recovering, up slightly to 50.1 in Oct W WORLD » A8
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HILE output and new orders recorded further declines in October, business confidence among Philippine manufacturers has improved as they continued to expand their workforce, according to the S&P Global Market Intelligence. This developed as S&P Global noted that the country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) score slightly rose to 50.1 in October from the 49.9 in September. “October data saw the S&P Global Philippines Manufacturing PMI post slightly above the neutral mark of 50.0, signaling
broadly stable operating conditions, and reversed the slight deterioration seen in the month prior,” S&P Global said. Closely examining the Philippines’s PMI data, Maryam Baluch, Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, pointed out that the Philippine manufacturing sector in October revealed a “mixed picture.” Baluch said the two largest segments, new orders and output, indicated “further declines,” adding that fresh contractions were observed in new export orders and purchasing activity, highlighting underlying demand conditions.
S&P Global explained that the recent decline in output was “closely associated” with falling new orders, which panelists linked to “adverse weather conditions and the end-of-life status for certain products.” Nevertheless, it noted that the rate of contraction in production slowed during the month, and was only “marginal.” Meanwhile, S&P Global said new factory orders placed with manufacturing firms in the Philippines “fell at a stronger rate” in October. Surveyed panelists often attrib-
uted this decline to a “sluggish” demand climate, with clients often putting orders on hold. In addition, S&P Global said new export orders fell for the first time since May and at a “solid pace,” which it said was the “most pronounced” for a year. “Companies reported weaker demand from international clients,” S&P Global noted. On a more positive note, Baluch said: “Manufacturers grew more optimistic about their growth prospects for output in the coming year.” See “PMI,” A2
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‘WEAK INDUSTRY, INFRA MESS, JITTERS HURT GDP’ www.businessmirror.com.ph
n
Tuesday, November 4, 2025 Vol. 21 No. 27
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 22 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
T
HE performance of the Philippine industry, alongside infrastructure scandals and global uncertainty, may have dragged down the growth of the Philippine economy in the third quarter of 2025, according to Department of Economy, Planning, and Development of the Philippines (DEPDev) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan. The country’s socioeconomic planning chief pointed out: “The industry is probably at its lowest point in recent years.”
“I am not as optimistic as I used to be or as I have been given the data that has been coming out in See “GDP,” A2
BSP POLL: BANKS SEE LENDING STANDARDS UNCHANGED IN Q4 By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto @reine_alberto
M
ORE banks expect no change in lending standards for both business and household loans in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the latest survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). According to the BSP’s third quarter 2025 Senior Bank Loan
Officers’ Survey (SLOS), 86 percent of 58 bank respondents expect to maintain their lending standards for businesses, while 87.5 percent expect to keep standards for household loans unchanged. For business loans, this was up from 78.9 percent in the third quarter, while the rest are split between easing at 3.5 percent and tightening at 10.5 percent. See “BSP,” A2
CALM BEFORE TINO In this recent photo, a lone fisherman braves the choppy waters off Guiuan, Eastern Samar, as Tropical Storm Kalmaegi—locally named Tino—enters the Philippine area of
responsibility as the 20th cyclone of the year. Pagasa said the storm is expected to intensify into a typhoon within 24 hours. At NAIA Terminal 1, Melvin Tena, DOST-Pagasa Assistant Weather Services Chief, monitors the system’s movement, while the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) canceled 30 local flights as of noon on November 3, 2025. In Leyte, residents were evacuated to safer grounds as the Philippine Coast Guard assisted communities in the path of Tino, which was last spotted 235 kilometers east of Guiuan with sustained winds of 120 kph and gusts of up to 150 kph, prompting authorities to warn of torrential rains and storm surges up to three meters high. NONIE REYES AND THE PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD VIA AP
Dizon touts DPWH ‘single biggest reform’ By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco
I
RICE MOVE Sacks of rice at a National Food Authority (NFA) warehouse in Valenzuela City are loaded for distribution across the country on Monday, November 3, 2025. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the extension of the rice import ban until the end of the year to help stabilize farmgate prices of palay. The President initially imposed a two-month suspension on rice imports, which was set to expire on October 31, to address the sharp drop in palay prices ahead of the wet harvest season. NONOY LACZA
N the coming weeks, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to implement an unprecedented “major reform measure” that could save the government around P60 billion in the 2026 national budget, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said. In a press conference on Monday, Dizon presented what he called “the biggest single piece of reform,” following the directive of President
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to suppress corruption in the agency. “Today, I’m going to announce the major reform measure that, in my opinion, will be the biggest, or one of the biggest if not, the single biggest piece of reform that we will do in the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways],” Dizon said, referring to the massive discrepancy in the cost of materials in government infrastructure projects against market prices. The directive to peg DPWH cost-
ings to market prices was a firm order from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who began the sweeping reforms in his last State of the Nation Address (Sona) by calling attention to overpriced, substandard and even nonexistent infrastructure projects, mostly in flood control. The message of the President, Dizon said, was clear: There should be real change, lasting change. “Baguhin ang DPWH. At yun ang gagawin natin...Ngayon lang ginawa
ito sa DPWH. Dekada na malalaki ang diperensya ng presyo pero kailangan na nating gawin ito. Kapag naibaba na natin ito, mami-minimize na natin ang corruption. Saan napupunta ang pera? Obviously, in all likelihood, napupunta sa pagnanakaw. Gagawin natin ang masinsinan at tunay na pagbabago,” he said. [Let’s overhaul the DPWH. That’s what we will do. It’s only being done now. For decades, there have been wide gaps in pricing, and that See “DPWH,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 58.7710 n JAPAN 0.3817 n UK 77.2016 n HK 7.5635 n CHINA 8.2543 n SINGAPORE 45.1667 n AUSTRALIA 38.4539 n EU 67.7923 n KOREA 0.0411 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.6719 Source: BSP (November 3, 2025)