By Ana Leah Gonzales
MANILA – The Philippines continues to benefit from strong remittances and a growing information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector, but effective implementation of government programs will help restore potential growth, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) said on Monday.
“The country, of course, still benefits from robust remittance flows. As you know, remittance flows are very important to the Philippines economy,” AMRO chief economist Dong He said in a virtual briefing for the launch of AMRO’s October update of the ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO).
Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed that cash remittances from overseas Filipinos reached USD3.24 billion in July this year, almost 2 percent higher than last year.
He said the IT-BPM sector is also doing well.
However, the country continues to face challenges both locally and globally, he said.
“The Philippines is one of the economies that was hit harder by the energy shock,” He said.
He said the declaration of a national emergency “helped the country galvanize responses towards the big energy shock.”
“But of course, growth did slow down significantly and the inflation went up very quickly,” He said.
AMRO projects the Philippine economy to grow by 3.3 percent this year and 4.6 percent in 2027.
He said the flood control issue also affected growth due to the slowdown in public investment.
“So the growth outlook is very dependent on how fast public investment and construction related activities can pick up,” he said.
Inflation, meanwhile, is forecast to average 5.6 percent in 2026 and 4.6 percent next year.
According to He, the Philippines has very clear policy frameworks.
“In this kind of situation, I think it’s important for the authorities to make use of the very robust policy framework they have, but ensure that public investment, well-governed public investment, can pick up speed and reach the government’s plan to complete these projects. That’s very important for the Philippines economy to come back to its potential growth,” he said. (PNA)
GROWTH PROSPECTS. ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office chief economist Dong He discusses the Philippines’ growth outlook during a virtual briefing on Monday (Oct. 5, 2026). AMRO expects the economy to grow by 3.3 percent this year and 4.6 percent in 2027.
