Philippines

The Revenue Statistics in Asian Countries publication is jointly undertaken by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the OECD Development Centre. It compiles comparable tax revenue statistics for Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. The model is the OECD Revenue Statistics database which is a fundamental reference, backed by a well-established methodology, for OECD member countries. Extending the OECD methodology to Asian countries enables comparisons about tax levels and tax structures on a consistent basis, both among Asian economies and between OECD and Asian economies.

Interrelations between Public Policies, Migration and Development in the Philippines is the result of a project carried out by the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC) and the OECD Development Centre, in collaboration with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) and with support from the European Union. The project aimed to provide policy makers with evidence on the way migration influences specific sectors – the labour market, agriculture, education and investment and financial services – and, in turn, how sectoral policies affect migration. The report addresses three dimensions of the migration cycle that have become an important part of the country's social and economic contexts: emigration, remittances and return.

The results of the empirical work confirm that even though migration contributes to the development of the Philippines, the potential of migration is not fully exploited. One explanation is that, despite its advancement in understanding the link between migration and development which is reflected in the Philippine Development Plan, not all policy makers in the Philippines take migration sufficiently into account in their respective policy areas. The Philippines therefore needs to adopt a more coherent policy agenda and better integrate migration into their sectoral strategies to enhance the contribution of migration to development in the country.

Skills represent a key driver of development and growth in the Philippines. Educational attainment of the Filipino population has steadily increased in recent decades, but while the country is regionally successful within Southeast Asia, it has yet to reach the standards of more developed countries. This OECD report looks at the implementation of employment and skills development programmes in a sample of cities in the Philippines: Taguig City, Cebu City, and Davao City. Local governments in the Philippines have an active role in the management of employment and skills programmes through Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs). These offices are responsible for the implementation of a number of nationally regulated policies and programmes. All three cities are making a number of investments to better link people to jobs, develop a skilled workforce and attract new investment.

This report analyses Philippine agricultural policy. Agriculture provides 30% of total employment in the Philippines and represents 11% of its Gross Domestic Product. The Philippines has had notable recent overall economic success, yet improving agricultural performance remains challenging. Productivity growth lags behind other Southeast Asian countries, and a number of policy distortions hinder progress. With agricultural land resources also under pressure from frequent natural disasters, rising population and urbanisation, the report offers a series of recommendations to improve the sector’s performance and its ability to adapt to climate change.