This paper examines whether the current level of debt in the country, given the national government's fiscal policy and plans, remains on a sustainable path. By end-2021, a year after the peak of the public health and economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's...

This is the lead chapter of the 2023-2024 Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Economic Policy Monitor (EPM). It examines the economic performance of the Philippines for 2023 and at most the third quarter of 2024. It presents conditions driving global, regional, and national...

We explored the fiscal impacts of climate-related phenomena in the Philippines and offer policy recommendations for creating a climate-resilient economy. By employing a threepronged empirical approach (i.e., time series, panel data, cross-section analyses), we probed on the nuanced interplay of...

The COVID-19 crisis created conditions for digital finance to accelerate financial inclusion in the Philippines. Anecdotal and survey data suggest that the pandemic has indeed spurred large gains in financial inclusion in the country, with adoption of digital finance as a strong driver. This...

This paper, which will be released as the lead chapter of the 2021-2022 PIDS Economic Policy Monitor, reviews the Philippines' macroeconomic performance in 2021 and the first half of 2022, analyzes recent developments and challenges shaping the economy's near-term outlook, and presents...

This exploratory study is about understanding the structure of networks of financial institutions in the Philippines. The literature notes that the financial sector occupies a central position within corporate networks. More importantly, the significance of learning more deeply about the...

The Philippines has introduced initiatives to attract retirement migrants, including visa and residence permit programs and various incentives. Central to these efforts is the Special Resident Retiree's Visa (SRRV), managed by the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA). The SRRV offers a...

The COVID-19 pandemic, and lockdown measures taken to control its spread, brought economies to a halt, turning the public health crisis into an economic one. Though government responses, such as labor and social welfare protection programs, were similar for recent economic crises like the Global...

Two key recent events pushed forward the country's decentralization agenda. In 2019, the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme Court ("Mandanas") ruling increased the tax base for intergovernmental fiscal transfers in support of local governments' autonomy and revenue-raising capacity. In 2021, Executive...

The 2023 Philippine national budget was drafted on the eve of the election of a new president. While aiming to sustain the recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and address economic scarring, the new administration needs to manage the implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia Supreme...