The Philippines may become a $2 trillion economy in the next decade should reforms on education, infrastructure, renewable energy, among others, are sustained, the head of the World Economic Forum (WEF) said.

In a briefing on Tuesday, March 19, Børge Brende, WEF president, said that they are seeing huge business interests in the country even amid lower foreign direct investments (FDIs) last year.

At present, the Philippine economy, as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP), stands at $475.95 billion in nominal terms. Since 2013, the nominal GDP has grown only by 67 percent from $283.9 billion.

“We are very bullish on the Philippines provided that reforms will continue,” Brende said. "In the coming decade, [it may become] a 2 trillion US dollar economy if there are better investments in education, infrastructure."

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He also cited the potential of human capital in growing the economy as “productivity can be increased by 30 percent in the coming decade.”

Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, for his part, mentioned that they were particularly interested in the upskilling of Filipino workers, artificial intelligence (AI), and technology investments such as LinkedIn and Google.

In a follow-up question, Brende said that the Public-Private Partnership projects of the government have been quickly prompting the economy to grow to a trillion dollars but “if you achieve a growth of seven to eight percent, we can talk about a decade perspective.”

The country’s economy is currently estimated at around $380 billion with the gross domestic product standing at 5.6 percent, higher than the major economies in Asia, such as China (5.2 percent), Vietnam (5.0 percent), and Malaysia (3.8 percent).

Meanwhile, the FDIs declined by 6.6 percent to $8.9 billion from the $9.5 billion net inflows recorded in 2022, data from the central bank showed.

The Philippines is aiming to have a 6.5 to 7.5 percent growth economy this year and 6.5 to 8.0 percent in the next four years.

In addition, a $1 billion fund is also being eyed to raise by the government, through its wealth fund, for renewable energy projects.