Business groups on Thursday said that urgent reforms were needed after 2025 economic growth turned out to be weaker than expected.
“This is a clear signal that consumption alone cannot sustain the economy,” Management Association of the Philippines President Donald Lim said.
“Growth must come from faster reforms, stronger investments, and higher-value industries,” he added.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth slumped to 4.4 percent in 2025, missing the government’s 5.5- to 6.5-percent target and slowing from 5.7 percent a year earlier, as a massive corruption scandal affected spending and sentiment.
It was the weakest expansion since a pandemic-caused 9.5-percent contraction in 2020 and also marked a third year of missed growth targets.
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) President Perry Ferrer noted that the corruption scandal had forced the government to cut back on spending and said that “recovery is now imperative.”
“We must focus on ensuring that corrective and preventive measures to ensure that this kind of disruption will not happen again,” he added.
Makati Business Club (MBC) Executive Director Rafael Apa Ongpin, meanwhile, said that while sectors had been liberalized and incentives expanded, these needed to be complemented by governance, transparency and ease of doing business reforms.
“MBC believes that key legislation, like the Freedom of Information bill, amendments to the bank secrecy law, and institutionalizing a budget process more open to public scrutiny, are important to economic development,” he said.
The government should also make sure that ease of doing business practices are well implemented and that digitalization initiatives at the local government level and up are intensified.
For Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) Chairman Elizabeth Lee, the country’s industrial base needs to be strengthened to secure resilience and competitiveness.
“Without a strong industrial backbone, the economy risks overdependence on services, which cannot fully absorb employment demand or provide the production base for global competitiveness,” she said.
Lee said the slowdown in infrastructure rollout, high energy costs and supply chain disruptions had weighed heavily on industrial performance while typhoons and global trade uncertainties also compounded structural weaknesses.
“The numbers show a stark truth. Services alone cannot carry the Philippine economy. Industry must be revitalized to ensure resilience, competitiveness, and inclusive growth,” she said.
The MAP’s Lim said that “with decisive action on digitalization, skills, innovation, and public-private collaboration, the Philippines can regain momentum and move back to a stronger, more inclusive growth path.”
For Lee, efforts should be made to “accelerate infrastructure programs, strengthen manufacturing competitiveness through innovation and export diversification, enhance energy resilience with stable and affordable power, and institutionalize industrial policy reforms even as we align with Asean.”
