Key View

• PLDT subsidiaries Smart Communications and Digital Mobile Philippines have agreed to sell and leaseback 1,012 tower sites for PHP12.1bn (USD220mn) to Frontier Tower Associates Philippines, with the deal to be finalised in 2023.
• The government has been pushing for tower infrastructure-sharing in order to improve network coverage and

Key View: We forecast real household spending to grow by 5.5% y-o-y in 2023. This is down from the 8.2% y-o-y growth forecast in 2022. Consumer confidence has increased since its all-time low reported in Q220. However, since then it has remained negative. Retail sales increases have remained sluggish since the pandemic but are starting to show

Key View

• Real GDP growth in the Philippines fell only marginally from 7.6% in Q322 to 7.2% in Q422, but we at Fitch Solutions expect a more pronounced slowdown to take hold over the coming quarters.
• A further weakening in global demand will exert a drag on exports, while the lagged impact of high inflation and monetary tightening is likely to

Key View

• The Philippines was expected to be an attractive market for downstream refining players because of price decontrols, but it has turned out to be opposite.
• The relatively small oil market size, combined with heated competition for market shares has dampened industry profitability.
• Politicians have been more supportive of a

Key View

• At Fitch Solutions, we now expect the Philippines' current account deficit as a share of GDP to only narrow to 4.7% in 2023, versus 4.5% previously, from a revised estimate of 5.2% in 2022 (5.0% previously).
• As a net importer of energy, the Philippines will benefit from lower energy prices in 2023, and we expect remittance inflows to

Key View

• At Fitch Solutions, we now expect policy rates in the Philippines to peak at 6.25% in H123, higher than our previous forecast of 5.75%.
• While the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas' decision to hike its policy rate by 50 basis points (to 5.50%) in December 2022 is in line with our expectations, inflation is taking longer to peak than we had

Key View

• The US will partner with the Philippines to help the latter improve its digital economy by expanding access to reliable and secure 5G networks, launching a satellite broadband service and providing digital opportunities to small businesses, empowering a new generation of highly skilled workers and investing in women entrepreneurs.
• At

Key View

• The Philippines’ wind and solar sectors will lead renewable capacity growth over the coming 10 years following robust governmental support and investor interest.
• We expect the government to go through with its policy of allowing foreign companies full ownership of renewable power projects, attracting more foreign investment for the

Key View

• The slight pick-up in Philippine real GDP growth from 7.5% y-o-y in Q222 to 7.6% in Q322 stood in sharp contrast with expectations of a slowdown, but the economy’s strength will prove difficult to sustain going forward.
• High inflation, continued policy rate hikes, and weakening external demand are likely to cause growth to slow over