Philippine Growth Slumps, Trailing Emerging Asia on Scandal

The Philippine economy slowed more than expected to the weakest pace in nearly 15 years outside of the pandemic, hurt by a public works corruption scandal that is weighing on investments, households and government spending.

Gross domestic product expanded 3.0% in the October to December period from a year earlier, the statistics agency said Thursday. That’s worse than all economist estimates in a Bloomberg News survey, and less than the revised 3.9% pace of the previous quarter. Full-year growth slowed to 4.4%, below the official 5.5% to 6.5% target.