Corruption, typhoons drag PH growth: ADB

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to miss the government's 2025 and 2026 targets as the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) cut its forecasts for its host country, the Philippines, citing reduced public infrastructure spending amid a flood-control corruption scandal and natural hazards.

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In its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) for December 2025 released Wednesday, Dec. 10, the ADB revised down its growth forecasts for the Philippines, projecting five percent for 2025 and 5.3 percent for 2026. Both figures fall short of the government's targets of 5.5to 6.5-percent expansion for 2025 and six to seven percent for 2026.

The updated projections are also below the actual GDP growth of 5.7 percent in 2024.

The ADB's December ADO forecasts mark notable downgrades from its September outlook, which had projected Philippine growth at 5.6 percent for 2025 and 5.7 percent for 2026.

"Growth projections were cut for the Philippines, largely due to weak public infrastructure investment," the ADB said.

The ADB noted that the Philippines' GDP growth slowed to four percent in the third quarter—the slowest quarterly expansion in 4.5 years—and averaged five percent for the year to date, mainly due to reduced government spending on infrastructure projects amid ongoing investigations and tighter controls.