THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMY is projected to grow above 5% this 12 months and in 2027, although governance concerns remain, the World Bank said.
The multilateral lender kept its growth forecast for the country until 2027, unchanged from its December projection.
In its bi-annual Global Economic Prospects report, the bank said the Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) is anticipated to expand by 5.3% in 2026 and 5.4% in 2027.
The World Bank’s forecasts were inside the federal government’s 5-6% GDP goal range for this 12 months but below the 5.5-6.5% goal for 2027.
“Within the Philippines, planned structural reforms are prone to boost investment and productivity, but concerns around governance remain,” the World Bank said.
A corruption scandal over anomalous flood control projects has curbed government spending, eroded business sentiment, and affected household spending.
Nevertheless, the World Bank estimated that GDP growth can have averaged 5.1% in 2025, slower than its earlier estimate of 5.3%. This can also be below the federal government’s 5.5-6.5% goal and the actual 5.7% growth in 2024.
“More recently, weather-related disruptions dampened growth within the Philippines and a contraction in public investment in addition to slowing tourism revenues led to a deceleration in Thailand,” the World Bank said.
As well as, it noted that industrial production rose within the Philippines, together with Malaysia and Vietnam, largely owing to artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand for semiconductor exports.
THIRD-FASTEST GROWTH
Meanwhile, the World Bank said the Philippines is anticipated to be the third fastest-growing economy within the East Asia and the Pacific region until 2027.
Vietnam is projected to grow by 6.3% this 12 months, followed by Mongolia (5.6%).
The Philippines’ 5.3% growth projection would put it ahead of Indonesia (5%), Samoa (4.4%), China (4.4%), Cambodia (4.3%), Malaysia (4.1%), and Marshall Islands (4.1%).
For 2027, Vietnam remains to be poised to be the fastest-growing economy with 6.7%, followed by Mongolia (5.5%), the Philippines (5.4%), Indonesia (5.2%), Cambodia (5.1%), China (4.2%), Malaysia (4%), and Laos (3.9%).
The Philippines’ GDP growth forecast would also put it above the region’s 4.4% average growth projection for 2026 and 4.3% in 2027.
The World Bank said the economic growth within the East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) region was projected to moderate mainly resulting from the deceleration in China.
“Elsewhere in EAP, activity is anticipated to moderate this 12 months before picking up next 12 months. This reflects the unwinding of front-loading, together with stronger investment growth in some countries, owing to domestic policy support,” the bank said.
The World Bank also said risks to the regional outlook remain tilted to the downside, noting that further escalation in trade restrictions and policy uncertainty pose a big risk to East Asia and the Pacific’s growth.
“Other downside risks include tighter global financial conditions, slower-than-expected growth in China, political uncertainty and social unrest in some economies, and natural disasters,” it added.
The multilateral bank also cited a lower drag from a better trade barrier as private sector adaptability and AI‑driven expansion in investment and exports could lift growth prospects within the region as upside risks.
RESILIENT GLOBAL ECONOMY
Meanwhile, the worldwide economy is proving more resilient than expected, with 2026 GDP growth expected to enhance barely over forecasts from last June, the World Bank said while warning that growth is simply too concentrated in advanced countries and overall too weak to scale back extreme poverty.
Its semi-annual Global Economic Prospects report showed that global output growth will slow barely to 2.6% this 12 months from 2.7% in 2025 before edging back to 2.7% in 2027.
The 2026 GDP forecast is up two-tenths of a percentage point from the last predictions released in June, while 2025 growth will exceed the prior forecast by four-tenths of a percentage point.
The World Bank said about two-thirds of the upward revision reflects better-than-expected growth within the US despite tariff-driven trade disruptions. It predicts US GDP growth will reach 2.2% in 2026, in comparison with 2.1% in 2025 — up two-tenths and half a percentage point from the June forecasts, respectively.
After an import surge to beat tariffs early in 2025 held back US growth for that 12 months, larger tax incentives will aid growth in 2026, offset by the drag of tariffs on investment and consumption, the World Bank said.
But when the present forecasts hold, the 2020s are on the right track to be the weakest decade for global growth for the reason that Nineteen Sixties and too low to avert stagnation and joblessness in emerging market and developing countries, the worldwide lender said.
“With each passing 12 months, the worldwide economy has turn into less able to generating growth and seemingly more resilient to policy uncertainty,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s chief economist, said in an announcement. “But economic dynamism and resilience cannot diverge for long without fracturing public finance and credit markets.”
Mr. Gill added that global GDP per person in 2025 was 10% higher than on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic — marking the fastest recovery from a significant crisis prior to now 60 years. But he said many developing countries are being left behind, with 1 / 4 of them saddled with lower per-capita incomes than in 2019, particularly the poorest countries.
Growth in emerging markets and developing economies will slow to 4% in 2026 from 4.2% in 2025, up two-tenths and three-tenths of a percentage point from the June forecasts, respectively. But excluding China, the 2026 growth rate for this group will likely be 3.7%, unchanged from 2025, the World Bank said.
China’s growth will slow to 4.4% in 2026 from 4.9%, however the forecasts are each up four-tenths of a percentage point from June resulting from fiscal stimulus and increased exports to non-US markets.
Growth within the euro zone is about to slow to 0.9% in 2026 from 1.4% in 2025 resulting from the drag from US tariffs but get better to 1.2% in 2027 resulting from increases in European defense spending, the World Bank said.
Japan’s outlook is way the identical for 2026, with growth slowing to 0.8% after an increase of 1.3% in 2025, a 12 months aided by the front-loading of exports to the US to beat President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs. But slower consumption and investment in Japan will keep GDP growth unchanged at 0.8% for 2027, the World Bank said. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante with Reuters