PHL · snapshot 2026-08-09
Philippines
HighOverall risk score
52.7
Percentile of scored universe
60th
Data coverage
100%
vs Australia (16.1)
+36.6
Category breakdown
Political Stability & Governance
High6 indicators · 100% coverage
Economic Resilience
Medium7 indicators · 100% coverage
Financial & Currency Risk
Medium5 indicators · 100% coverage
Business Environment
High4 indicators · 100% coverage
Security & Crime
Very High4 indicators · 100% coverage
Climate & Social Compliance
High4 indicators · 100% coverage
Technology & Digital
High4 indicators · 100% coverage
Cultural Distance
High9 indicators · 100% coverage · not in overall score
Key risks and considerations
Philippines rates High for market entry — an overall risk score of 52.7, riskier than 60% of rated economies and 37 points riskier than Australia.
The main risk drivers are pervasive organised crime (6.6/10), conditions that enable modern slavery, high natural-disaster risk, political instability and armed conflict (0.2 battle deaths per 100k/yr).
Relative strengths: FX reserves, GDP growth, currency stability all rate Low, the least-risky rating band.
Possible mitigations
- Political violence. Consider political-violence and political-risk insurance, keep asset footprints light, and maintain an exit/continuity plan with defined triggers.
- Organised crime. Expect extortion, counterfeiting, and cargo-theft exposure: harden supply-chain security, vet logistics partners and distributors carefully, and avoid cash-heavy channels.
- Ownership rules. Check sectoral foreign-ownership caps and screening/approval requirements early — legal structuring may dictate the entry mode before commercial terms do.
- Modern slavery compliance. Elevated modern-slavery risk: apply enhanced supply-chain due diligence and document it — Australian Modern Slavery Act reporting will expect exactly this analysis.
- Disaster resilience. High natural-hazard exposure: build business-continuity plans, check insurance availability (including parametric covers), and avoid single-point supply dependencies.
- Payment fraud. Experts nominate this market as a cybercrime origin (World Cybercrime Index, 2021 survey): verify any change of bank details out-of-band, enforce MFA and dual authorisation on payments, and be sceptical of unsolicited counterparties.
Generated automatically from this snapshot’s indicator data — a starting point for analysis, not advice.
Indicators
| Indicator | Value | Risk score | Rating | Australia | Data source year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Political Stability & Governance | ||||||
| Voice & accountability (WGI) | 50.6 | 58.8 | High | |||
| Government effectiveness (WGI) | 54.2 | 45.6 | Medium | |||
| Regulatory quality (WGI) | 56.1 | 42.7 | Medium | |||
| Rule of law (WGI) | 47.1 | 66.4 | High | |||
| Control of corruption (WGI) | 36.2 | 67.9 | High | |||
| Political stability & absence of violence/terrorism (WGI PV) | 52.7 | 80.4 | Very High | |||
| Economic Resilience | ||||||
| GDP growth (3-yr average, %) | 5.2% (3-yr avg) | 15.0 | Low | |||
| Growth volatility (10-yr std dev, pp) | ±5.0 pp | 73.8 | High | |||
| Government net debt (% of GDP) | 59.4 | 60.0 | High | |||
| Inflation (CPI %, vs income-group target) | 1.7 | 35.0 | Medium | |||
| Current account (3-yr average, % of GDP) | -3.4% (3-yr avg) | 40.0 | Medium | |||
| FX reserves (months of import cover) | 7.3 months | 10.0 | Low | |||
| GDP per capita (PPP, current intl $) | $12,577 | 65.6 | High | |||
| Financial & Currency Risk | ||||||
| Capital-account openness (Chinn-Ito KAOPEN) | 0.45 | 60.0 | High | |||
| Currency stability (regime-aware classification) | Floating — low volatility (<8%) | 15.0 | Low | |||
| Sovereign credit risk (OECD country risk classification) | Category 3 / 7 | 28.0 | Medium | |||
| FATF listing (grey / black list status) | Not listed | 0.0 | Low | |||
| Double-tax agreement with Australia | In force | 0.0 | Low | |||
| Business Environment | ||||||
| FDI regulatory restrictiveness (OECD FDIRRI) | 0.36 | 71.6 | High | |||
| Logistics performance (World Bank LPI) | 3.3 | 32.6 | Medium | |||
| Business readiness (World Bank B-READY pillar average) | 59.8 | 56.1 | High | |||
| Investment protection with Australia in force (BIT or FTA investment chapter) | In force | 0.0 | Low | |||
| Security & Crime | ||||||
| Armed-conflict intensity (battle deaths per 100k, 5-yr) | 0.2 | 80.0 | Very High | |||
| Intentional homicide rate (per 100k) | 4.3 | 63.1 | High | |||
| Organised crime pervasiveness (GI-TOC criminality score) | 6.6 | 83.1 | Very High | |||
| DFAT Smartraveller advisory level | Level 2 — Exercise a high degree of caution | 40.0 | Medium | |||
| Climate & Social Compliance | ||||||
| Physical climate vulnerability (ND-GAIN vulnerability) | 0.430 | 43.9 | Medium | |||
| Disaster risk (INFORM Risk Index) | 5.4 | 81.2 | Very High | |||
| Modern-slavery prevalence (per 1,000) | 7.8 | 77.8 | Very High | |||
| Modern-slavery vulnerability score | 66.4 | 81.6 | Very High | |||
| Technology & Digital | ||||||
| E-government development (UN EGDI) | 0.8 | 37.6 | Medium | |||
| Internet users (% of population) | 67.3 | 69.1 | High | |||
| Cybercrime origination (World Cybercrime Index) | 1.2 | 30.0 | Medium | |||
| Secure internet servers (per million people) | 131.6 | 73.7 | High | |||
Per-indicator ratings are quartile bands of the 0–100 risk score. The Australia column shows the same indicator’s raw value for the Australian baseline in this snapshot.
Cultural distance
GLOBE 2004 societal practices · rated on distance from Australia · not in the overall score
Context — not scored
Unemployment
2.2%
Displayed, never scored: ambiguous for an entrant and unreliable where informal employment dominates. (2025, ILO modelled)
Trade agreement
Free trade agreement with Australia in force
Market access is decision-relevant but a benefit, not a risk — kept out of the rating.
Regional advisories
Higher levels apply in some areas (up to Level 4)
DFAT Smartraveller sub-national advice where it exceeds the overall level.
Compare with
A score means little on its own. These economies scored closest to Philippines in this snapshot, which is the fastest way to see whether the rating is telling you something specific or something regional.