The Philippines is a lower-middle income economy according to the World Bank. Its 2023 GDP of $437 billion accounts for 11.5% of the regional GDP of Southeast Asia. With a population of 115 million, the Philippines’ GDP per capita is $3,805, the seventh-highest in the region.
From 2015 to 2023, 17,587 aid and development projects were implemented in the Philippines by 77 development partners, totalling close to $50 billion in official development finance (ODF).
Key trends
ODF disbursements including grants, loans, and other forms of assistance to the Philippines have grown over time. Disbursements remained below $5 billion annually until 2020, when a peak of $10.7 billion was hit. Levels have since moderated to a relatively stable post-pandemic annual average (2021–23) of $6.5 billion.
ODF has decreased relative to the Philippines’ economy, doubling from 1.5% in 2015 to 3% in 2020 and settling in 2023 at 1.64% of GDP. Of the Philippines’ total ODF, 64% is delivered through non-concessional loans, with the remainder split between concessional loans (20%) and grants (16%).
Looking ahead, new commitments to the Philippines have been extremely volatile, with peaks in 2016 and 2020 followed by dramatic drops. In 2023, commitments rebounded to the third-highest level since 2015.
- Spent
- Committed
Development partners
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the Philippines’ primary development partner, accounting for more than one-third of its ODF since 2015. The World Bank accounts for 25% and Japan for 18%.
In 2020, the ADB rapidly ramped up its operations in the Philippines in response to the pandemic, with aid jumping from $1.1 billion in 2019 to $5.2 billion in 2020 (48% of the Philippines’ total ODF in that year). Since then, levels have remained elevated above $2 billion annually. The ADB concentrates its spending in the government and civil society, banking and financial services, and health sectors. Most of its assistance to the Philippines is delivered through non-concessional loans with minimal grants.
The World Bank similarly responded with force in 2020, more than doubling its annual spend in the Philippines. Like the ADB, the World Bank’s top sector in the Philippines by spending is government and civil society. It employs exclusively non-concessional loans.
Japan’s assistance to the Philippines has been building steadily, with a post-pandemic average annual disbursement of $1 billion (2021–23). Japan focuses on the transport and storage sector, with a particular recent focus on railways, and delivers ODF through a mix of grants (13%) and concessional loans (87%).
In 2015, South Korea was the Philippines’ third-largest development partner, but its support has fallen away in recent years, largely due to withdrawal of its non-concessional loan offerings in infrastructure sectors to provide exclusively concessional finance and grants.
Sectors
The top sector in the Philippines by spending is government and civil society, which accounts for 27% of the Philippines’ total ODF over 2015–23, well above the regional average of 17%. The Philippines also exceeds its peers in terms of ODF spending in humanitarian aid, health, general environment protection, education, communications, banking and financial services, and agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
Government and civil society sector spending is directed towards social protection, public sector policy, and public finance management. The sector was the top ODF destination from 2015 to 2017 and again in 2019, briefly eclipsed by humanitarian aid in 2018 and then falling behind health during the pandemic from 2021 onwards.
In 2022 and 2023, spending in transport and storage was exceptionally strong. Disbursements in this sector had previously been far below regional averages, in part due to a lack of fulfilment of commitments for major railway projects. The Philippines is making up for lost time in transport and storage, receiving more than $3 billion in ODF for railway construction in 2022 and 2023.
ODF spending on energy in the Philippines is just a fraction of the regional average, at 1% compared to 17%. A majority of investment in the energy sector is directed to renewable energy generation and transmission and distribution.
- The Philippines
- Regional average
Policy goals
The Southeast Asia Aid Map tracks ODF with integrated policy goals across three policy domains or cross-cutting themes (as distinct from sectors): climate action, gender equality, and disability inclusion.
Over 2015–23, the Philippines received considerably higher policy goal-integrated ODF as a proportion of total ODF across all three policy domains: 43% compared with 25% for gender equality, 19% compared with 9% for disability inclusion, and 39% compared with 31% for climate action.
Provision of intra-regional ODF
The Philippines is a very minor provider of development assistance to its neighbours, accounting for just 0.3% of total intra-regional ODF from 2015 to 2023. Manila contributes mostly on a regional level in the humanitarian aid sector, with only one bilateral transaction recorded to Indonesia in 2018. The Philippines receives very limited intra-regional ODF, mostly consisting of minor grants from Thailand.