INCREASED infrastructure spending planned by the Duterte administration should support import growth this year despite July’s drop, analysts at Nomura Global Research said in a report. Read the full story.

BUSINESS LEADERS and a central bank official cautioned the Executive branch on its plan to replace the existing region-based minimum wage system with one that sets a nationwide floor pay for private sector workers, saying the latter risks making the country unattractive to investors and spiking inflation beyond target besides — eventually defeating the government’s goal of spreading development from key urban hubs like Metro Manila. Read the full story.

COMPANIES in the Philippines have among the lowest confidence in the ability of law enforcers to combat economic crime, placing fourth in a list of 115 economies that say local enforcement agencies are “not adequately resourced” to do so, a survey suggests. Read the full story.

THE RANKS of jobless Filipinos thinned marginally last quarter, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed, with one analyst saying this was due to hiring linked to the May 9 national elections. Read the full story.