Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break on Wednesday, Oct 5, and which we think you'd be interested in.

It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.

Celebrating best of tourism industry

Singapore will be celebrating its finest in the tourism industry on Wednesday (Oct 5) with an annual awards ceremony attended by President Tony Tan Keng Yam. The ceremony comes amid declining tourist spending due to an uncertain economic outlook.

British PM to give key speech

British Prime Minister Theresa May will deliver a keynote speech on Wednesday (Oct 5) to close her governing Conservative Party's annual conference.

She kicked off the meeting on Sunday by announcing her decision to trigger Brexit negotiations by the end of March next year.

The tough tone in her speech signals that, while she wants free trade with the European Union, she is prepared to leave the single market if necessary, analysts suggest.

World Bank update on region

The East Asia and Pacific economic update, the World Bank's semi-annual review of the region's developing economies, will be released this morning.

The update looks at the region's growth prospects and policy challenges, both in the short and medium term, amid an economic re-balancing in China and a challenging growth environment for emerging markets in general.

Philippine central bank to announce inflation

Philippines' annual inflation, which is to be released on Wednesday (Oct 5), was likely to have quickened in September due to an increase in food prices and a weaker peso, though the rate would still lie at lower end of the central bank's target range.

Analysts predict the consumer price index to show a year-on-year rise of 2.1 per cent in September, up from 1.8 per cent in August. If the forecast is accurate, the inflation rate would be the highest since April 2015 when the rate hit 2.2 per cent.