Philippine economy grows 5.5%, within target range | The wRap - video Dailymotion

rapplerdotcom

Here are today’s headlines – the latest news in the Philippines and around the world:  - Philippine economy grows 5.5% in Q2 2025 amid cooling inflation  - Phivolcs’ Pinatubo monitoring equipment worth P1 million stolen in Tarlac  - LIST: The new tariff rates Trump set on US imports effective August 7  - Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffers record coral decline following mass bleaching  - PSC chair Gregorio urges more LGUs to open existing sports spaces for public   https://www.rappler.com/video/daily-wrap/august-7-2025/

Transcript

00:00Today on Rappler

00:08The Philippine economy grows by 5.5% in the second quarter of 2025.

00:19Equipment used to monitor Pinatubo volcano worth more than 1 million pesos are stolen.

00:24U.S. President Donald Trump's higher tariffs take effect on August 7.

00:28Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffers the largest decline in coral cover.

00:32And the Philippine Sports Commission plans to open more sports complexes for public use.

00:38The Philippine Statistics Authority reports the economy grew 5.5% in the second quarter of 2025

00:44despite the slowdown of government spending growth.

00:47The country's latest gross domestic product is within the government's new target range of 5.5% to 6.5%.

00:53Analysts had expected the economy to grow by 5.5%, helped by low inflation, election spending,

01:00and steady money sent home by overseas workers.

01:03From April to June, inflation was low at about 1.3%, the lowest since 2019.

01:08In June, the Banco Central ng Pilipinas cut interest rates to 5.25%,

01:12making loans cheaper and encouraging people to spend more.

01:16BPI's lead economist, June Neri, says the government can reach its 2025 growth goal,

01:21but warns that the rainy season could slow down production and infrastructure work.

01:26Equipment used to monitor the Pinatubo volcano in Central Luzon

01:30were stolen from the government's observation station in San Jose, Tarlac.

01:33The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, or FIVOX,

01:36says the theft was discovered during a routine maintenance activity

01:39at the San Jose Observation Station, or VPSJ, on Wednesday, August 6.

01:44The seismic vault was forced open,

01:46and a state-of-the-art Quantetta digitizer,

01:48valued at 1.144 million pesos,

01:51and solar batteries worth around 70,000 pesos were taken.

01:54Quantetta digitizers record and convert to usable formats all earthquake signal data.

01:59The facility provides crucial data for locating volcano-tectonic earthquakes

02:03generated by deep-seated magma beneath the Pinatubo edifice.

02:07This is not the first incident of theft at the VPSJ.

02:10Its solar panels were stolen in two separate incidents in October and December 2024.

02:15FIVOX reminds the public,

02:16stealing and tampering with disaster risk reduction and preparedness equipment

02:20are illegal under Republic Act 10344.

02:24U.S. President Donald Trump announces new tariffs of up to 41%

02:28on goods imported from dozens of countries.

02:31Citing emergency powers,

02:32Trump's new higher tariffs of 10 to 50% on many trading partners

02:36take effect on Thursday, August 7.

02:38This move is meant to reduce the U.S. trade deficit,

02:41but it also risks causing problems like global supply chain issues,

02:45rising prices, and possible pushback from other countries.

02:48The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency began collecting higher tariffs

02:52after weeks of suspense over Trump's final tariff rates

02:55and frantic negotiations with major trading partners that sought to lower them.

02:59Trump says on Truth Social, just ahead of the deadline,

03:02Trump slapped some countries with much higher rates,

03:13including 50% for goods from Brazil,

03:1639% from Switzerland,

03:1835% from Canada,

03:20and 25% from India.

03:22Britain won a 10% rate,

03:23while Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines

03:26secured rate reductions of 19 or 20%.

03:29A recent research shows Australia's Great Barrier Reef

03:34suffered the largest decline in coral cover

03:36in two of its three regions over the last year

03:38following mass bleaching of its corals.

03:40The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences

03:42says the reef's coral cover dropped between a quarter and a third

03:45after several years of solid growth.

03:48The phenomenon emerged over the last 15 years

03:50and points to an ecosystem under stress.

03:53The reef, the world's largest living ecosystem,

03:55stretches for some 2,400 kilometers off the coast of the northern state of Queensland.

04:01Since 2016, it has experienced five summers of mass coral bleaching

04:04when large sections of the reef turn white due to heat stress,

04:08putting them at greater risk of death.

04:10The Great Barrier Reef is not currently on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in danger,

04:14but the UN recommends it should be added.

04:16The Philippine Sports Commission plans to open more sports complexes around the country

04:23for the public to use.

04:24PSC Chairman Pato Gregorio reveals in a Rappler Talk interview,

04:27he is coordinating with more local government units to make this happen

04:31following President Marcos' wishes in his fourth State of the Nation address.

04:35The PSC earlier opened the track ovals of Phil Sports Complex,

04:38the Rizal Memorial Complex, and the Baguio Grandstand.

04:41When we opened Phil Sports, when we opened the Rizal,

04:45we did that na isang consideration.

04:48Bigyan ng opportunity yung taong bayan, yung mga atleta sa eskulahan,

04:53at yung mga batang walang magawa pagkatapos ng eskulahan,

04:56makapag-exercise, makapag-jogging, tumakbo.

04:59After the public's warm reception to the opening of government track ovals,

05:03Gregorio also reveals joggers flocking to the RMC rose from a few hundreds on the first day

05:08to more than a thousand by Wednesday, August 6.

05:10Will we offer maybe more sports facilities moving forward?

05:15Yes. Pag-aralan lang po namin, lalo na ngayon siguro,

05:18kasi may SEA Games lang.

05:20Every two years naman ang SEA Games.

05:21So we will definitely look into that.

05:24Promise po yan ang Philippine Sports Commission.

Philippine economy grows 5.5%, within target range | The wRap

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended