Bangko

Sentral eyes January inflation between 7.5%-8.3%

HIGHER electricity rates, among others, is expected to bring January 2023 domestic inflation rate to between 7.5 to 8.3 percent, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday. In a statement, the central bank identified other possible drivers of the rate of price increases for the month, including the “approved water rate rebasing, higher domestic petroleum prices, uptick in the prices of key food items, and the annual increase in sin taxes.”

However, these factors are projected to be countered by “the reduction in LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) prices as well as the peso appreciation.”

“The BSP will continue to adjust its monetary policy stance at the necessary pace to prevent the further broadening of price pressures and monitor emerging price developments closely in accordance with the BSP’s price stability mandate,” it added.

Earlier, BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said domestic BANGKO/PAGE 7

BPI eyes to capture at least 10% of Lazada customers via tie-up

A RANKING official of the Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI) is hoping to increase by 8 million its new account holders and clients following its tie-up with international electronic commerce (e-commerce) platform Lazada. In an interview at the sidelines of the partnership launch on Tuesday, BPI Senior Vice President for Retail Banking Jose Raul Jereza said they do not have specific target on how many clients the bank can have by the end of this year through the partnership. “Actually, to be honest, I’m happy if I get 10 percent of the 80 (million customers that Lazada currently have),” he said, adding that as Lazada is a digital app, the “potential is limitless.” Jereza said the tie-up will definitely increase the banks’ capacity to reach out to more people. “It’s like a (BPI) branch in a city with 80 million people. So, if I get 10 percent of that in one year, that’s huge,” he said, noting the projected increase in transaction will cover all products, such as credit cards and loans. He said more tieups with non-bank entities will be announced within the quarter as BPI hopes to further increase the number

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The Long and Winding Road

Think a minute… After my teenage son learned to drive, he still did not learn the quickest, shortest route to where he wanted to go. He often ended up turning a 10-minute drive into a 20-minute journey. Taking the long way home cost him a lot of wasted time and money for fuel. Yet often in life we take the long and winding road to get where we want to be. Life is short, yet we take so long to learn how to live it well.

“Experience may be a good teacher, but it charges us a high price for the lessons we learn.”

Each day we face possibilities to make wrong turns, or to simply go around in circles with our daily routine, never actually making progress.

“We live and learn, but some of us just live.” So we die sometimes having never learned to really live the right, satisfying way. We take many twists and turns trying to find our way through this life of good and bad, right and wrong. We face a lot of choices, including false