The Philippines Is Cheap for a Reason — But Maybe Too Cheap

RBC BlueBay’s “Notes from the Road” paints a picture of a country caught between demographic promise and institutional stagnation. 

• The Philippines has one of the youngest populations in the world, with a median age of just 26.8 years and 117 million people.
• The economy has historically benefited from remittances, outsourcing, and strong domestic consumption, which helped the country rebound rapidly after Covid.
• But the country is now under pressure from several directions simultaneously: corruption scandals, high oil-import dependence, rising inflation, weak capital markets, and fears that AI could eventually disrupt the business-process outsourcing industry that accounts for roughly 8% of GDP.

The report repeatedly returns to one structural issue: underdevelopment despite enormous latent potential.