Your Morning Fix

• The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reduced its benchmark policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.5%, the lowest since September 2022.
• The Asian Development Bank has approved a USD 500-million policy-based loan to the Philippines to support ocean-based economies and improve resilience of coastal areas.
• The Philippine Statistics Authority said the country’s domestic material extraction, covering biomass, metal ores, non-metallic minerals, and fossil fuels, rose 8.1% to 388.07 million metric tons in 2024.
• The US trade deficit narrowed by 10.9% month-on-month to USD 52.8 billion in September. Exports jumped 3.0% to USD 289.3 billion, outpacing a 0.6% rise in imports to USD 342.1 billion.
• The US Federal Reserve cut its policy rate by 25  basis points to 3.50%-3.75%, and signaled only one cut in 2026 as divisions persist over inflation, jobs, and the impact of Trump’s policies.