The Covid-19 pandemic hit the Philippines’ consumption-driven economy hard, with forecasts from the IMF suggesting that real GDP could contract by as much as 9% in 2020. Strict lockdowns took a heavy toll on the energy sector in the form of a steep drop in demand for both electricity and fuel, yet local power providers took steps to ease the...
Travel restrictions and the suspension of industrial activities around the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic have led to an unprecedented drop in global emissions. According to data from the Helsinki-based Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS), by the first week of April 2020 daily carbon emissions had fallen by 17% against mean 2019...
The Philippines’ financial services sector entered the Covid-19 pandemic on a solid footing, thanks to decades of regulatory reform to address the vulnerabilities exposed by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Strong capital buffers, high levels of provisioning and near-universal public health cover insulated the country from many of the...
The Philippines is experiencing a boom in digital banking as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with several digital-only banks announcing plans to enter the market and legacy banks rapidly upgrading their online offerings. East-West Banking Corporation, the country’s 11th-largest bank by assets, launched its own fully digital bank, Komo, in...
Recent years have seen the issue of climate change and its ecological and economic effects move more clearly into the spotlight. It is now widely accepted that the planet cannot sustain current high-carbon industrial and consumer behaviours. With better and more reliable scientific knowledge on the subject available, economic models used to...
While the pandemic has placed extra strain on the Philippines’ health care system, increased awareness of health risks could lead to a spike in private insurance coverage. With around 415,000 recorded cases and 8000 virus-related deaths as of mid-November, 2020, the Philippines has been one of the hardest-hit countries in South-east Asia...
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