All Countries and All Sectors

Despite growing at an average rate of 2.7% between 2002 and 2012, the manufacturing sector’s share of GDP has been eroded by the rapid growth of other sectors, such as construction and services. Hampered by high energy costs, expensive logistics and low infrastructure investment, the manufacturing’s share of GDP has been declining since 2002 in what the Asian Development Bank has warned could be...

The emergence of new hydrocarbons fields has helped the Philippine energy sector make up for declining output starting in the mid-1990s. While primary energy demand continues to outstrip diminishing domestic production, output from relatively recently exploited reserves are offsetting maturing blocks as the sector looks to implement a strategy of efficiency, diversification and further...

At the end of 2012, the Philippines was home to 79 non-life insurance companies, 29 life insurers and a single reinsurance firm. With a strong history and few limitations and restrictions on foreign investment, the Philippine insurance industry is open, thriving, growing and competitive; however it is widely acknowledged that the sector should be more inclusive, as it currently serves only a...

The Philippine Stock Exchange had the second-best performance among Asian equity markets in 2013. It hit 38 all-time records during the year, broke 6000 for the first time in January 2013, 6500 in Feruary, and 7000 in April. The challenge is now to build on this strong foundation, further developing the systems, institutions, and regulations that will guarantee the market’s continued success...

The Philippines banking sector has strengthened significantly in recent years, tracking general economic trends and benefitting from prudent measures put into place over time to boost capital and improve supervision, corporate governance and transparency. The local institutions that emerged from the late 1990s are stable and more wary of excessive risk and asset-liability imbalances. The...

For a number of years the Philippines worked hard to lower tariff rates, with the average weighted tariff applied falling from 22.4% in 1989 to a low of 2.6% in 2003. However, rates have begun to creep up again. The Philippines is actively considering a number of liberalisations to better align itself with the more open of its regional peers and to better integrate itself with the global economy...