Marcos Faces Crisis as Fragile Philippines Punished by Oil Shock

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is facing the country’s worst economic crisis since the pandemic as the energy shock unleashed by the Iran war hollows out consumer spending and fans inflation in a major Southeast Asian economy.

Economic data Thursday revealed how vulnerable the nation is to the energy choke from the US-Iran standoff, and rings an economic alarm to the rest of Southeast Asia, which relies on the Middle East for two-thirds of its oil.