Philippines
Indonesia, MAS launch Indonesia-Singapore local currency transaction
Central banks in Indonesia and Singapore have operationalised their bilateral settlement system, which highlights a step toward regional financial integration and currency diversification within ASEAN.
Wildfires cause 165,000 respiratory cases in Indonesia's Kalimantan
Acute respiratory infections in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, reached 165,727 cases between January 1 and August 22, the local health office reports.
Deutsche Bank predicts Philippine rate hike to 5%
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is poised to raise interest rates by a further 25 basis points (bps) to 5% to tame rampant consumer prices, Deutsche Bank warned ahead of the monetary board meeting on August 27.
China’s clean-energy boom runs into the limits of its power grid
China rejected an estimated 360 terawatt-hours of clean power in the six months through June, enough to supply Mexico for a year.
BSP urges lower costs to widen Philippine financial access
Cheaper transaction fees and easier access to services remain critical to pulling more citizens into the formal financial system, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas says.
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Taiwan, Philippines brace for joint heavy rain, typhoon threat
Southern Taiwan is preparing for further flooding and landslides as heavy rain persists, while a strengthening typhoon is forecast to enter the Philippines’ area of responsibility.
Philippines slows its deficit repair as investment collapses
The Philippines has quietly pushed back its deficit targets again, and Fitch Ratings says the country's investment grade now depends on a recovery in investment that has yet to appear.
China’s $303bn ‘shadow trade’ exposed as apparent Asia-wide tariff dodge network
The report, carrying the somewhat dramatic title of ‘The Great Transshipment Scam’ and headed by an image of a Trojan horse style graphic, says Chinese exporters increasingly routed goods through third countries
The strongest El Niño on record will hit food prices from Brazil to Indonesia
The Pacific is warming faster than at any point in the modern record, and central bankers have started writing it into their forecasts.
Philippine credit-card boom meets the reckoning as rates climb
The plastic that fuelled a decade of Filipino spending is starting to bite, just as the cost of money turns against the country's borrowers.
Iran and the Philippines offer Russia two very different farm-export bets
Russia's meat and feed exporters face a choice between two very different markets: Iran, slow and bureaucratic but predictable, and the Philippines, fast-growing but brutal on price.
Manila taps South Korea to power nuclear revival
AboitizPower Corporation, one of the Philippines’ leading energy companies, has signed a landmark memorandum of understanding with state-owned South Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power to explore nuclear energy deployment.
Electrifying Asia – where EVs are reshaping power demand and fuel use
The winners are likely to be countries capable of building integrated ecosystems spanning renewable generation, batteries, charging networks and EV manufacturing.
Taiwan braces for once-in-a-generation typhoon
Taiwan's Central Weather Administration has issued a land warning for Typhoon Bavi, which is expected to bring up to 900 mm of rain to northern mountain areas by Sunday July 12, and generate waves of more than six metres along the coast.
Typhoon Bavi approaches Taiwan
Central Weather Administration data reportedly showed maximum sustained winds of 134mph near its centre, as the storm’s radius reached 240 miles - a distance almost identical to the length of Taiwan from its northern tip to its southern shores.
Russia's ASEAN summit in Kazan was a diplomatic coup for the Kremlin
The ASEAN summit held in Russia last week was one of the Kremlin’s biggest diplomatic successes since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Philippine banks face rising credit risks
Philippine banks are likely to face higher credit losses and weaker profitability as economic headwinds intensify.
China, Philippines in naval head-to-head near Scarborough Shoal
The confrontation reportedly took place on the same day Manila concluded Salaknib 2026, a nearly three-month exercise involving more than 7,000 troops from the Philippines, the US, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
COMMENT: Iran war shows why Asia must quit fossil fuels
Across Asia, governments are now accelerating approvals for renewable projects and grid modernisation schemes. Battery storage investments are making headlines almost daily.
Philippines approves 13 renewable energy projects
The Philippines’ Department of Energy has welcomed the certification of 13 renewable energy projects valued at PHP344.62bn ($5.7bn) under the government’s Green Lane initiative in the first five months of 2026.