In 2023, the Philippines’ inflation rate amounted to 5.98 percent. The Philippines are considered “newly industrialized”, but the economy relies on remittances from nationals overseas, and the services sector generates most of its GDP .

Emerging and soon to develop?

After switching from agriculture to services and manufacturing, the Philippines are now an emerging economy, i.e. the country has some characteristics of a developed nation but is not quite there yet. In order to transition into a developed nation, the Philippines must meet certain requirements, like being able to sustain their economic development, being very open to foreign investors, or maintaining a very high stability of the institutional framework (like law enforcement and the government). Only if these changes are irreversible can they be classified as a developed nation.

The Philippines’ switch to services

Ever since the switch to services and manufacturing, employment in these areas has increased and the country is now among those with the highest employment in the tourism industry worldwide. This transition was not entirely voluntary but also due to decreasing government support, the liberalization of trade, and reform programs. Still, agriculture is important for the country: As of 2017, more than a quarter of Filipinos are still working in the agricultural sector, and urbanization has only increased very slightly over the last decade.

As of December 2024, the inflation rate for all commodities in the Philippines reached 2.9 percent, reflecting a significant decrease from the same month of the previous years. The country's inflation rate in 2024 was the lowest in September.

This dataset provides values for INFLATION RATE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Inflation rates in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ranged from 31 percent inflation in Laos to 0.37 percent inflation in Brunei Darussalam. While countries like Vietnam are likely benefitting from more stable inflation than earlier seen, only a few countries are in the 2 to 6 percent range that many economists view as optimal for emerging economies. Effects of high inflation High inflation is generally detrimental to the economy. Prices tend to rise faster than wages, meaning that people and firms have less purchasing power. This in turn leads to slower growth in the gross domestic product (GDP). It also leads to a weaker currency. For countries with a positive trade balance this can be beneficial, because exports are relatively cheaper to foreign buyers. Through the same mechanism, net importers suffer from a weaker currency. Additionally, inflation makes a country’s national debt less expensive if the debt is denominated in the local currency. However, most of this debt is in U.S. dollars, so inflation makes the debt more difficult to service and repay. Risks of deflation With deflation, consumers and firms delay investments because they expect prices to be lower in the future. This slows consumption and investment, two major components of GDP growth. The most common example of this is Japan, where the GDP growth rate has been low for a long time due, in large part, to deflation. For this reason, countries like Brunei would rather see low and stable inflation than slight deflation.

GNI (formerly GNP) is the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from abroad. Data are in current U.S. dollars. GNI, calculated in national currency, is usually converted to U.S. dollars at official exchange rates for comparisons across economies, although an alternative rate is used when the official exchange rate is judged to diverge by an exceptionally large margin from the rate actually applied in international transactions. To smooth fluctuations in prices and exchange rates, a special Atlas method of conversion is used by the World Bank. This applies a conversion factor that averages the exchange rate for a given year and the two preceding years, adjusted for differences in rates of inflation between the country, and through 2000, the G-5 countries (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States). From 2001, these countries include the Euro area, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The growth of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in the Philippines was forecast to increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 0.6 percentage points. This overall increase does not happen continuously, notably not in 2029. The growth is estimated to amount to 6.31 percent in 2029. As described by the International Monetary Fund, this indicator describes the annual change in the gross domestic product at constant prices. This is expressed in national currency units. Here the gross domestic product represents the total value of the final goods and services produced during a year.Find more key insights for the growth of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in countries like Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia.

The average inflation rate in Brunei Darussalam was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 0.5 percentage points. The inflation is estimated to amount to one percent in 2029. This indicator measures inflation based upon the year on year change in the average consumer price index. The latter expresses a country's average level of prices based on a typical basket of consumer goods and services. The values shown here refer to the year-on-year change in this index measure, expressed in percent.Find more key insights for the average inflation rate in countries like Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia.

One United States dollar was worth over 15,000 Indonesian rupiah in March 2024, the highest value in a comparison of over 50 different currencies worldwide. All countries and territories shown here are based on the Big Mac Index - a measurement of how much a single Big Mac is worth across different areas in the world. This exchange rate comparison reveals a strong position of the dollar in Asia and Latin America. Note, though, that several of the top currencies shown here do not rank among the most traded. The quarterly U.S. dollar exchange rate against the 10 biggest forex currencies only contains the Korean won and the Japanese yen.

The gasoline price in the Philippines continued to fluctuate in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, reaching 68.67 Philippine pesos per liter in March 2024. The retail price of petrol peaked between May and June 2022.   Which countries supply petroleum products to the Philippines? The refined petroleum products supply in the Philippines is mainly imported from South Korea, which accounts for 31 percent of the total import share. Singapore and China also provide a large share of the country’s petroleum product supply. Due to a dormant oil refining capacity, the production of petroleum refinery products in the Philippines has shown sluggish growth recently, further emphasizing the need for importing such products. Leading petroleum companies in the Philippines As of March 2023, Shell Pilipinas Corporation held the highest share of the petroleum market in the Philippines, with a market share of about 16 percent. The company operated its own petroleum refinery until 2020, when it decided to focus on imports. There is only one operating oil refinery in the country, which is run by the second-largest oil company – Petron Corporation.

As of January 2024, the prices of essential goods in the Philippines increased compared to the same month in the previous year. With the exception of rice, most basic goods noted a significant increase in prices. For instance, the price of six kilograms of meat rose from nearly 1,600 Philippine pesos in 2022 to 1,843 Philippine pesos in 2024. In addition, the cost of eight kilograms of vegetables increased from 698 to 857 Philippine pesos.