Best stats reporting: PSA picks BM’s story
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EUMIR: WATCH ME. HIDILYN: WAIT FOR ME. Eumir Felix Marcial knocks out Thailand’s Weerapon Jongjoho in the second round of their light heavyweight bout on Sunday night to advance to the medal round of boxing, while Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo doesn’t medal in women’s 59 kg of weightlifting at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Monday but sends a strong message on how she’ll be a force in the Paris 2024 Olympics. NONIE REYES
ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion
OR the fifth consecutive year, a BusinessMirror reporter bagged the Best Statistical Reporting for Print award bestowed by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) during the 12th National Statistics Month (NSM) Media Awards. Reporter Cai U. Ordinario was awarded for her report titled “70% of children already working in 11 regions–PSA” published last March. You may view the article here: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/03/07/70-of-childrenalready-working-in-11-regions-psa/. This is the third year in a row that Ordinario won in the same category. Prior to her, another reporter, Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas, won the category for the newspaper two years in a row. BusinessMirror as a news organization was also declared the Ambassador for Statistics during the 8th NSM Media Awards and was adjudged Best Media Advocate for Statistics during the 11th NSM Media Awards. Other winners in the 12th NSM Media Awards were Ted Cordero of GMA News Online for Best Statistical Reporting in Online Media; Shyla Francisco of News5 for Best Statistical Reporting in TV Broadcast Media; and Michael Joe Delizo of ABS-CBN as Best Media Advocate for Statistics. Running on its 12th season this year, the NSM Media Awards aim to recognize the significant role and contribution of media in promoting and popularizing official statistical information. This is done through their efforts to feature data/statistics and other products and services from the Philippine Statistical System in print, online platforms, television, and radio news service.
BusinessMirror
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
WEAKER PESO PUSHES w
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Tuesday, October 3, 2023 Vol. 18 No. 351
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 24 pages |
UP PHL DEBT TO P14.35T By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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@jearcalas
WHITE HOUSE LEADS FIL-AM HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION
HE weakening of the Philippine peso drove the country’s outstanding debt to reach a fresh record high of P14.35 trillion at the end of August, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
The Treasury said the national government’s outstanding debt rose by P105.28 billion from last month’s P14.244 trillion “primarily” due to peso depreciation. The Treasury pointed out that the local currency weakened to P56.651 in August from P54.834 in July against the US dollar. On an annual basis, the pesodollar exchange rate declined by P0.48 centavos from P56.171 recorded in August of last year. Treasury data showed the state’s outstanding debt rose by 10 percent from P13.021 trillion recorded in the same month of 2022. “Of the total debt stock, 31.8 percent are from external sources while 68.2 percent are from domestic borrowings,” the Treasury said on Monday. The country’s latest debt figure is already 98.09 percent of the national government’s anticipated P14.63-trillion outstanding debt by the end of the year. Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said fresh record highs for the state’s outstanding debt remains possible in the coming months in light of the national government’s foreign-denominated bond issuances. The national government offered retail dollar bonds (RDB) recently, which finance officials noted could exceed $1 billion. The state is expected to debut its Islamic bonds or sukuk bonds before the end of the year, which is projected by finance officials to raise $1 billion for the national government. “The new record high in the outstanding national government debt may be attributed to wider budget deficits amid higher prices/inflation that also bloated government expenditures, higher interest rates that raised borrowing costs of the See “Weaker peso,” A2
SCREENSHOT of Sesame Street’s tweet of Cookie Monster, TJ, a Filipino character muppet, and Fil-Am actor EUGENE CORDERO | PHOTO COURTESY SESAME STREET’S X By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig
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NITED States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris led America’s start of celebration of Filipino American History Month. “Fi l ipi nos a nd Fi l ipi no Americans have helped forge the very idea of America. This Filipino American Histor y Mont h, t he Biden-Ha r r i s Administration is proud to honor generations of Filipino Americans who have ensured our nation remains a land of hope, opportunity, and optimism,” the W hite House
posted on X (formerly Twitter) Sunday. Filipino Americans are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group in the US after Mexicans, Indians, and Chinese. As of 2021 census, out of 45.3 million immigrants in the US, 2 million are from the Philippines. Nearly one in seven Asian immigrants in the US is a Filipino. They are the first documented Asian people to arrive in the US. Popular children’s television show, “Sesame Street,” also commemorated the start of Fil-Am History Month. See “White house,” A2
RICE, STILL THE ISSUE Amid the ongoing rice price issues in the Philippines, delivery workers unload rice from a truck at a warehouse in Taytay, Rizal. Various agricultural groups emphasize that there is no rice shortage, challenging the basis for the proposal to reduce tariff and the potential influx of imported rice into the market. They echo the President's stance that there is sufficient rice but distribution challenges hinder market availability. BERNARD TESTA
WB cuts ’24 growth forecast on PHL By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario
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HE Philippine economy is expected to post slower growth in 2024, prompting the World Bank to cut its economic forecast for the country next year. Based on the latest East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) Economic Update for October, the Philippine
economy is expected to grow by 5.8 percent next year from the initial estimate of 5.9 percent in April. The GDP growth estimate for this year was maintained at 5.6 percent. The consumption slowdown in China, one of the country’s biggest trade partners, is expected to negatively affect the economy next year. “Overall, growth in developing EAP excluding China would be re-
duced by 0.1 percentage points in 2024. The heterogeneous impact across EAP countries reflects differences in their exposure to developments in China,” the report stated. Apart from what the World Bank termed “domestic difficulties” in China, other risks could dampen growth in 2024. See “WB,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.6600 n JAPAN 0.3790 n UK 69.1252 n HK 7.2351 n CHINA 7.7479 n SINGAPORE 41.5396 n AUSTRALIA 36.4437 n EU 59.8953 n KOREA 0.0419 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1081 Source: BSP (October 2, 2023)