Philippine e-commerce apps posted double-digit growth in downloads in the first half of 2026 even as their reliance on paid customer acquisition declined sharply, suggesting stronger organic discovery in the country’s online shopping market.

The Philippines faces a difficult policy balancing act as elevated inflation, weak public investment, and growing pressure on service exports threaten to weigh on economic growth, according to the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO).

The Philippines has officially attained upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status after nearly four decades as a lower-middle-income economy, surpassing the World Bank’s threshold with a gross national income per capita of US$4,850, exceeding the US$4,636 cutoff.