By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
THE ADMINISTRATION of Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. is accelerating structural reforms and diversifying trade ties to shield the economy from global volatility following sluggish economic growth last 12 months.
Through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Editors and Economic Opinion Leaders Forum in Makati City on Tuesday, Mr. Marcos said the government is pushing the bureaucracy to make it more conscious of policy shifts as external shocks, from geopolitics to produce chain disruptions, turn out to be more frequent.
Mr. Marcos cited trade negotiations with nontraditional partners reminiscent of Latin American nations, members of the European Union (EU) and Canada, amongst others.
The President framed the subsequent phase of his administration around strengthening economic resilience after the pandemic and amid what he described as increasingly complex geopolitical tensions.
While the federal government had expected a more stable global environment after the pandemic, he said successive economic and political shocks have required a recalibration.
“One in all the predominant things that we’re striving for is to offer stability,” he said. “Whatever shocks come, we’re more robust, we’re resilient and we’re capable of adjust.”
That balancing act, preserving policy continuity while remaining agile, will define Manila’s economic strategy in the approaching years, he added.
Halfway through his six-year term, Mr. Marcos said that embedding reforms deep enough to outlast political cycles can be key to turning short-term growth right into a long-lasting one.
The Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a post-pandemic low of 4.4% in 2025, after a graft scandal affected government spending, consumption and investor and consumer confidence.
The Marcos administration is now targeting GDP growth of 5-6% in 2026, 5.5-6.5% in 2027 and 6-7% in 2028. These recent targets are barely lower than the sooner 6-7% growth goal for 2026 to 2028.
“Flood control problems, scandal, whatever you must call it, have definitely played a really large part in that,” Mr. Marcos said, referring to his exposé about anomalous flood control projects last July in his annual address to Congress.
“Unfortunately, it needed to be done. It’s one among those things where you only must rip the band-aid off. There was no easy technique to do it. And otherwise, then the old practices would proceed and the Philippines would flatline.”
The President also blamed the Ukraine-Russia war and disruptions in global commodity markets, which have also affected the Philippines through higher food and energy prices.
“It’s uncertainty that we’re fighting with,” he noted.
John Paolo R. Rivera, a senior research fellow on the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said the Philippines is “moderately sensitive” to global volatility but generally less trade-dependent than export-heavy peers reminiscent of Vietnam and Thailand.
“The predominant transmission channels of world volatility are oil prices (import dependence), exchange rate pass-through to inflation, and financial conditions (portfolio flows, risk-off episodes),” Mr. Rivera said via Viber.
Compared with regional peers which can be more deeply integrated into global manufacturing supply chains, the Philippines faces smaller exposure to abrupt trade disruptions, he noted.
Mr. Rivera said the country’s defenses include international reserves, a versatile exchange rate, a predominantly domestic-currency public debt profile and resilient forex (foreign exchange) inflows from remittances and services.
Mr. Rivera said energy and logistics costs, limited export diversification and uneven infrastructure execution may hamper competitiveness and the economy’s recovery.
He said productivity gains and investment in infrastructure can be critical to sustaining long-term growth.
University of Asia and the Pacific Associate Professor George N. Manzano said the Philippines is an open economy but is less exposed to global trade shocks than more export-dependent ASEAN peers.
He noted the country’s trade as a share of GDP is smaller than in Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, meaning external disruptions transmit with somewhat less intensity.