IMF: Trade reforms, anti-corruption key to unlocking PH growth potential

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is urging the Philippines to streamline trade processes and strengthen anti-corruption efforts, highlighting these reforms as critical to unlocking the country’s full economic potential.

In a blog post published March 25, Anne-Charlotte Paret Onorato, economist at the IMF’s Asia-Pacific department, said simultaneous and comprehensive structural reforms could raise the Philippines' economic output by up to 3 percent over four years.

“Combining deliberate, ambitious structural overhauls can help the region’s largest economies achieve higher potential economic growth and sustainably attain high income levels,” she said, referring to the five largest ASEAN emerging economies—Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Onorato noted that while these countries are generally more open than the average emerging market, they still face more trade barriers and inefficiencies compared to advanced economies. Improving logistics and trade facilitation would reduce costs and uncertainty in cross-border transactions.

The IMF’s analysis suggests that if the Marcos administration achieves its lower-end growth target of six percent in 2025, implementing these reforms could push the economy closer to nine percent annual growth.

Aside from trade, the IMF also flagged governance, education, investment, and human capital development as essential focus areas. Onorato emphasized that tackling corruption and improving infrastructure quality would boost investor confidence, accountability, and long-term growth.

She added that reforms across multiple sectors would yield much higher economic returns than isolated efforts, underscoring the value of coordinated and wide-ranging policy action.

“Wide-ranging reforms can build resilience to shocks in the face of uncertainties and help the private sector drive growth,” she said.