VARIOUS sources indicated that the United States' defense spending as a share of its gross domestic product (GDP) for 2024 was at 3.38 percent. Then there are the Philippines' neighbors: Singapore's defense budget was estimated at about 2.5 percent of its GDP, followed by South Korea at 2 percent, and Japan is increasing its defense budget to 1.6 percent from its formerly flat spending of about 1 percent for the past couple of years.
Undoubtedly, the Philippines' defense budget has seen a significant increase in recent years. The General Appropriations Act shows that our defense spending rose from P204 billion in 2023 to P238 billion in 2024. With the Philippines' GDP currently at P26.55 trillion, this means the country's defense spending share to GDP is only 0.896 percent.
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