HSBC economist Aris Dacanay said that the Philippines felt the tightening of the monetary policy and inflation pressure that is being felt by ASEAN members, but the country still managed to ease the impacts of these headwinds on its economy.

Dacanay noted that despite this, the Philippines is still the fastest-rising economy in ASEAN in 2023.

This is on the back of a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.3 percent in 2024 before further strengthening to 5.8 percent in 2025.

Danacay also said that the latest GDP outlook is an increased projection for the country in September 2023 at 4.8 percent for 2023 and 5.2 percent for 2024. 

The GDP forecast for 2025 was kept.

For HSBC’s Philippines, the GDP growth projection in 2023 is higher than Vietnam and Indonesia both at 5 percent, Malaysia at 4.1 percent, Thailand at 2.5 percent, and Singapore at 1.2 percent.

“But it's good to know that even though we're not used to 5.3—we’re used to 6.5—5.3 is still an excellent number compared to what everyone is going through today. At 5.3 percent, the Philippines is poised to become the highest, fastest growing economy in ASEAN for 2023,” Dacanay said.