Economy

Main article: Economy of the Philippines

A proportional representation of the Philippines' exports, 2017.

The Philippine economy has produced an estimated gross domestic product (nominal) of

$356.8 billion.[438] Primary exports include semiconductors and electronic products, transport
equipment, garments, copper products, petroleum products, coconut oil, and fruits. Major trading
partners include the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Hong
Kong, Germany, Taiwan, and Thailand. [4] Its unit of currency is the Philippine peso (₱[439] or PHP[440]).
[441]

A newly industrialized country,[442] the Philippine economy has been transitioning from one based
upon agriculture to an economy with more emphasis upon services and manufacturing. [443] Of the
country's 2018 labor force of around 43.46 million, the agricultural sector employed 24.3%,[444] and
accounted for 8.1% of 2018 GDP.[445] The industrial sector employed around 19% of the workforce
and accounted for 34.1% of GDP, while 57% of the workers involved in the services sector were
responsible for 57.8% of GDP.[445][446]
The unemployment rate as of October 2019, stands at 4.5%.[447] Meanwhile, due to lower charges in
basic necessities, the inflation rate eased to 1.7% in August 2019. [448] Gross international reserves as
of October 2013 are $83.201 billion.[449] The Debt-to-GDP ratio continues to decline to 37.6% as of
the second quarter of 2019[450][451] from a record high of 78% in 2004.[452] The country is a net
importer[453] but it is also a creditor nation. [454] Manila hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development
Bank.[455]
Filipinos planting rice. Agriculture employs 23% of the Filipino workforce as of 2020.[456]

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis affected the economy, resulting in a lingering decline of the value of
the peso and falls in the stock market. The extent it was affected initially was not as severe as that of
some of its Asian neighbors. This was largely due to the fiscal conservatism of the government,
partly as a result of decades of monitoring and fiscal supervision from the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), in comparison to the massive spending of its neighbors on the rapid acceleration of
economic growth.[155] There have been signs of progress since. In 2004, the economy experienced
6.4% GDP growth and 7.1% in 2007, its fastest pace of growth in three decades. [457][458] Average
annual GDP growth per capita for the period 1966–2007 still stands at 1.45% in comparison to an
average of 5.96% for the East Asia and the Pacific region as a whole. The daily income for 45% of
the population of the Philippines remains less than $2. [459][460][461][obsolete  source]
Remittances from overseas Filipinos contribute significantly to the Philippine economy.
[462]
 Remittances peaked in 2006 at 10.4% of the national GDP, and were 8.6% and 8.5% in 2012 and
in 2014 respectively.[462] In 2014 the total worth of foreign exchange remittances was US$28 billion.
[463]
 Regional development is uneven, with Luzon – Metro Manila in particular – gaining most of the
new economic growth at the expense of the other regions. [464][465] Service industries such
as tourism[466] and business process outsourcing have been identified as areas with some of the best
opportunities for growth for the country.[467] The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is
composed of eight sub-sectors, namely, knowledge process outsourcing and back offices,
animation, call centers, software development, game development, engineering design, and medical
transcription.[468] In 2010, the Philippines was reported as having eclipsed India as the main center of
BPO services in the world.[469][470][471]

Science and technology

Main articles: Science and technology in the Philippines and Philippine space program

Headquarters of the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna.

The Department of Science and Technology is the governing agency responsible for the
development of coordination of science and technology-related projects in the Philippines.
  Research organizations in the country include the International Rice Research Institute,[473] which
[472]

focuses on the development of new rice varieties and rice crop management techniques. [474]
The Philippines bought its first satellite in 1996.[475] In 2016, the Philippines first micro-
satellite, Diwata-1 was launched aboard the US Cygnus spacecraft.[476] The Philippines has a high
concentration of cellular phone users.[477] Text messaging is a popular form of communication and, in
2007, the nation sent an average of one billion SMS messages per day.[478] The country has a high
level of mobile financial services utilization. [479] The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company,
commonly known as PLDT, is a formerly nationalized telecommunications provider. [477] It is also the
largest company in the country.[480] The National Telecommunications Commission is the agency
responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over all telecommunications services
throughout the country.[481] There are approximately 417 AM and 1079 FM radio stations and 438
television and 1,551 cable television stations.[482] On March 29, 1994, the country was connected to
the Internet via a 64 kbit/s connection from a router serviced by PLDT to a Sprint router in California.
[483]
 Estimates for Internet penetration in the Philippines vary widely ranging from a low of 2.5 million
to a high of 24 million people.[484][485] Social networking and watching videos are among the most
frequent Internet activities.[486] The Philippine population is the world's top internet user. [487]

Tourism
Main article: Tourism in the Philippines

Limestone cliffs of El Nido, Palawan.

The travel and tourism sector contributed 10.6% of the country's GDP in 2015 [488] and providing
1,226,500 jobs in 2013.[489] 8,260,913 international visitors arrived from January to December 2019,
up by 15.24% for the same period in 2018. [490] 58.62% (4,842,774) of these came from East
Asia, 15.84% (1,308,444) came from North America, and 6.38% (526,832) came from other ASEAN
countries.[420] The island of Boracay, popular for its beaches, was named as the best island in the
world by Travel + Leisure in 2012.[491] The Philippines is also a popular retirement destination for
foreigners due to its climate and low cost of living. [492]

Infrastructure
Transportation
Main article: Transportation in the Philippines
An LRT Line 2 train at Santolan station.

Transportation in the Philippines is facilitated by road, air, rail and waterways. As of December 2018,
there are 210,528 kilometers (130,816 mi) of roads in the Philippines, with only 65,101 kilometers
(40,452 mi) of roads paved.[493] The 919-kilometer (571 mi) Strong Republic Nautical
Highway (SRNH), an integrated set of highway segments and ferry routes covering 17 cities was
established in 2003.[494] The Pan-Philippine Highway connects the islands of Luzon, Samar, Leyte,
and Mindanao, forming the backbone of land-based transportation in the country. [495] Roads are the
dominant form of transport, carrying 98% of people and 58% of cargo. A network of
expressways extends from the capital to other areas of Luzon. [496] The 8.25-kilometre
(5.13 mi) Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway in Cebu will be finished by 2021.[497] Traffic is a significant
issue facing the country, especially within Manila and on arterial roads connecting to the capital. [498]
Public transport in the country include buses, jeepneys, UV Express, TNVS, Filcab, taxis,
and tricycles.[499][500] Jeepneys are a popular and iconic public utility vehicle.[501] Jeepneys and other
Public Utility Vehicles which are older than 15 years are being phased out gradually in favor of a
more efficient and environmentally friendly Euro 4 compliant vehicles.[502][503]
Despite wider historical use, rail transport in the Philippines is extremely limited, being confined to
transporting passengers within Metro Manila and neighboring Laguna, with a separate short track in
the Bicol Region.[504] There are plans to revive Freight transport to reduce road congestion.[505][506] As of
2019, the country had a railway footprint of only 79 kilometers, which it had plans to expand up to
244 kilometers.[507][508] Metro Manila is served by three rapid transit lines: LRT Line 1, LRT Line
2 and MRT Line 3.[509][510][511] The PNR South Commuter Line transports passengers between Metro
Manila and Laguna.[512] Railway lines that are under-construction include the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) Line
2 East Extension Project (2020),[513] the 22.8-kilometre (14.2 mi) MRT Line 7 (2020),[514] the 35-
kilometre (22 mi) Metro Manila Subway (2025),[515] and the 109-kilometre (68 mi) PNR North-South
Commuter Railway which is divided into several phases, with partial operations to begin in 2022.
[516]
 The civil airline industry is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.[517] Philippine
Airlines is Asia's oldest commercial airline still operating under its original name. [518][519] Cebu Pacific is
the countries leading low-cost carrier.[520]
As an archipelago, inter-island travel using watercraft is often necessary. [521] Boats have always been
important to societies in the Philippines.[522][523] Most boats are double-outrigger vessels, which can
reach up to 30 metres (98 ft) in length, known as banca[524]/bangka,[525] parao, prahu, or balanghay. A
variety of boat types are used throughout the islands, such as dugouts (baloto) and house-boats like
the lepa-lepa.[523] Terms such as bangka and baroto are also used as general names for a variety of
boat types.[525] Modern ships use plywood in place of logs and motor engines in place of sails.
[524]
 These ships are used both for fishing and for inter-island travel. [525] The
principal seaports of Manila, Batangas, Subic Bay, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General
Santos, and Zamboanga form part of the ASEAN Transport Network.[526][527] The Pasig River
Ferry serves the cities of Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig and Marikina in Metro Manila. [528][529]

Water supply and sanitation

Main article: Water supply and sanitation in the Philippines

Ambuklao Dam in Bokod, Benguet.

In 2015, it was reported by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation that
74% of the population had access to improved sanitation, and that "good progress" had been made
between 1990 and 2015.[530] As of 2016, 96% of Filipino households have an improved source of
drinking water, and 92% of households had sanitary toilet facilities, although connections of these
toilet facilities to appropriate sewerage systems remain largely insufficient especially in rural and
urban poor communities.[531]