Services

NEWS FLASH

UPCOMING WEBINAR - VENEZUELA: WHAT'S NEXT?...

Learn More

COUNTRY INSIGHTS

October FDI Inflows Signal Heightened Policy and Governance Risks
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 13 Jan 2026

Foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows to the Philippines declined by 40 percent year on year in October 2025, falling to USD 642 million from USD 1.1 billion in October 2024. While inflows were higher than in the preceding three months, suggesting some short-term stabilization, the annual c...

Growth slowdown exposes labor market vulnerabilities
PHILIPPINES · Report · 13 Jan 2026

The November 2025 Labor Force Survey points to increasing labor market vulnerability amid slowing economic growth. Unemployment rose to 4.4 percent from 3.2 percent a year earlier, employment growth weakened, labor force participation declined, and underemployment remained elevated—signaling not ...

IMF on the Philippines: Cautious Optimism, Hard Constraints
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 30 Dec 2025

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed its Article IV mission to the Philippines from mid-September to 1 October 2025, with the Executive Board concluding the consultation on 24 November 2025. The staff report, released on 15 December with the consent of Philippine authorities, reflects ...

Why the BSP may need to pause further monetary easing
PHILIPPINES · Report · 22 Dec 2025

The BSP cut policy rates in December 2025 as inflation fell well below target, creating room for easing. However, Governor Eli Remolona has since clarified that further rate cuts are not assured and will depend on incoming data, financial stability risks, and market confidence. While economic ...

The Trillion Peso March: mass action, political maneuvering, and the imperative of evidence-based unity
PHILIPPINES · Report · 12 Dec 2025

The Philippines is experiencing a surge of public mobilization against corruption, especially over alleged irregularities in flood control projects. While many rallies have focused on institutional reform and evidence-based accountability, a recent event pushing for President Marcos’s resignation...

Losing confidence, losing steam
PHILIPPINES · Report · 12 Nov 2025

The Philippine economy slowed sharply in the third quarter of 2025, expanding only 4.0% year-on-year—the weakest growth since 2011 outside the pandemic years—due to weak industrial performance, falling investment, and eroding business confidence amid governance scandals. Services remained the mai...

Accommodating Growth Weakness: Balancing Support and Prudence
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 11 Nov 2025

The Philippine economy slowed markedly in the third quarter of 2025, expanding by only 4.0%, down from 5.5% in the previous quarter and 5.2% a year ago—well below the government’s full-year target of 5.5–6.5%. This clear growth deceleration, coupled with steady headline inflation at 1.7% in both ...

2026 National Budget: the challenges of governance and fiscal consolidation
PHILIPPINES · Report · 23 Oct 2025

The Philippines' 2026 P6.8-trillion national budget reflects the government’s effort to sustain social spending but exposes persistent weaknesses in fiscal governance. Despite reallocations from flood control to education, health, and food security, unprogrammed appropriations worth P250 billion...

Unmasking corruption and irregularities in public works: disasters, governance and growth
PHILIPPINES · Report · 23 Oct 2025

The Philippines again tops the 2025 World Risk Index as the world’s most disaster-prone nation—an outcome shaped as much by geography as by weak governance. Typhoons, floods, and earthquakes expose not only natural hazards but also institutional failures: substandard infrastructure, unfinished pr...

The One-Month Income Tax Holiday Proposal: relief or risk?
PHILIPPINES · Report · 14 Oct 2025

In the middle of last week, Senator Erwin Tulfo filed Senate Bill No. 1446, seeking to suspend income-tax withholding for one month as financial relief for workers. While the measure would temporarily raise take-home pay and slightly boost consumption, it would cost the government an estimated ₱5...

A quick guide to the flood control anomalies in the Philippines
PHILIPPINES · Report · 02 Oct 2025 · 1 response

The Philippine flood control scandal has exploded into one of the country’s largest corruption crises in decades, exposing the scale of wasted funds and institutional decay. Sparked by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 2025 State of the Nation Address, the scandal revealed “ghost projects” — incom...

Dark clouds ahead
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 02 Oct 2025

Earlier assessments suggested that the post-pandemic slowdown in gross domestic capital formation (GDCF) could be constraining the Philippines’ productivity growth and long-term potential output. The latest data support this concern: from the first half of 2024 to the first half of 2025, GDCF gro...

Market and Business Backlash Over Flood Control Corruption
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 09 Sep 2025

As the Philippines' House of Representatives and the Senate pursue public hearings on the anomalous flood control projects, one clear consequence has been a negative market reaction. Just before the weekend, the Philippine Stock Exchange Index slipped 0.75% (46 points) to close at 6,082.92, while...

Flood control projects: breach of social contract?
PHILIPPINES · Report · 09 Sep 2025

Between 2011 and 2025, the Philippines allocated nearly ₱1.9 trillion to flood control projects, yet flooding has worsened due to pervasive corruption. Investigations reveal that as little as 40 percent of project funds reach implementation, with the rest siphoned off by politicians, DPWH officia...

2nd quarter economic growth steady
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 07 Aug 2025

The signs were known as early as June 2025 that economic growth in the Philippines would remain flat at the lower end of the revised GDP growth for the year 2025 of 5.5-6.5%. The average growth for the last five quarters stood at around 5.5-5.6%.   Source: Philippine Statistics Authority The Phil...

Copyright 2026 GlobalSource Partners. All rights reserved.