The Philippine economy grew slightly less than initially reported in the third quarter of 2025, after official data revisions shaved a tenth of a percentage point off headline growth.
The integration of the National ID system with financial and public service platforms is gaining momentum, promising faster transactions, tighter security, and broader financial inclusion across the Philippines.
Construction activity in the Philippines continued to weaken in November 2025, with approved building permits pointing to a sustained slowdown as developers adopt a more cautious stance.
Farmgate prices of palay improved in December from November, buoyed by the government’s decision to extend the rice import ban until the end of the year, offering temporary relief to local farmers after months of weak prices.
Headline inflation accelerated to 1.8 percent in December 2025, its fastest pace since March last year, as higher food prices and quicker increases in clothing and footwear pushed overall prices up, government data showed. The latest figure marked a rebound from November’s slower pace but remained well below December 2024’s 2.9 percent, highlighting easing price pressures over the year.
Philip Morris International (PMI) is counting on the Philippines as an important sourcing and manufacturing base as it strengthens supply-chain resilience against weather disruptions, geopolitical risks and other external shocks.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted commercial flights nationwide Friday (early Saturday in Manila) after a communications failure crippled all 22 regional air traffic control centers, although it remained unclear whether the disruption was connected to an outage affecting some Microsoft services.
The Philippine economy is beginning to resemble a car running low on fuel while its engine overheats. Growth is sputtering, prices are soaring, jobs are getting harder to find, and agriculture—a major source of food and rural livelihoods—is contracting
Southeast Asia’s small businesses need stronger digital capabilities and better access to regional markets to tap more than 680 million consumers and help ASEAN achieve its ambition of becoming the world’s fourth-largest economy, ASEAN Foundation executive director Dr. Piti Srisangnam said.