The economic history of the Philippines is shaped by its colonial past, evolving governance, and integration into the global economy.
Prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the islands had a flourishing economy centered around agriculture, fisheries, and trade with neighboring countries like China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. 
Under Spanish rule, the Philippines became a key hub in the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade, though the wealth primarily benefited colonial powers rather than local development. 
During the American colonial period (1901–1946), the country saw significant economic reforms and infrastructure improvements, while the Philippine peso was pegged to the US dollar, facilitating trade and investment. After gaining independence in 1946, the Philippines experienced periods of growth and stagnation, with key phases of industrialization and agricultural reform, alongside challenges such as cronyism, political instability, and economic inequality. 
In the modern era, the Philippines has shifted towards a more service-oriented economy, with sectors like business process outsourcing (BPO) and remittances from overseas Filipino workers playing critical roles in its development.
Pre-colonial era (900s–1565).
During pre-colonial times, the Philippine Islands were composed of numerous kingdoms, and thalassocracies oversaw the large number of merchants coming to the islands for trade. Indian, Arab, Chinese and Japanese merchants were welcomed by these kingdoms, which were mostly located by riverbanks, coastal ports and central plains. The merchants traded for goods such as gold, rice, pots and other products. Foreign merchants, asides from bartering, also had to deal with loans-on-credit, hostage-exchange or outright raiding from Filipino kingdoms. However, the barter system was implemented most, at that time, and the pre-colonial people enjoyed a life filled with imported goods which reflected their fashion and lifestyle.
From the 12th century, a huge industry centered around the manufacture and trade of burnay clay pots, used for the storage of tea and other perishables, was set up in the northern Philippines with Japanese and Okinawan traders. These pots were known as 'Ruson-tsukuri' (Luzon-made) in Japanese, and were considered among the best storage vessels used for the purpose of keeping tea leaves and rice wine fresh. Hence, Ruson-Tsukuri pots became sought after in Northeast Asia. Each Philippine kiln had its own branding symbol, marked on the bottom of the Ruson-tsukuri by a single baybayin letter.
The people were skilled agriculturists, and the islands–especially Luzon–had a great abundance of rice, fowl, and wine as well as great numbers of carabaos, deer, wild boar and goats. In addition, there were great quantities of cotton and colored clothes, wax, honey and date palms produced by the natives. The precolonial state of Caboloan in Pangasinan often exported deer-skins to Japan and Okinawa. The Nation of Ma-i produced beeswax, cotton, true pearls, tortoise shell, medicinal betel nuts and yuta cloth in their trade with East Asia. Ma-i's vassal state of Sandao exports kapok, beeswax, native cloth, and coir matting. Its other vassal state, Pulilu, meanwhile, exports rare red and blue corals. By the early sixteenth century, the two largest polities of the Pasig River delta, Maynila and Tondo, established a shared monopoly on the trade of Chinese goods throughout the rest of the Philippine archipelago. The polity of Namayan had many industries including carpentry, masonry, and fishing. The Polity of Cainta also had similar industries.
The Visayas islands which is home to the Kedatuan of Madja-as, the Kedatuan of Dapitan, and the Rajahnate of Cebu on the other hand were abundant in rice, fish, cotton, swine, fowl, wax and honey. Leyte was said to produce two rice crops a year, and Pedro Chirino commented on the great rice and cotton harvests that were sufficient to feed and clothe the people.
In Mindanao, the Rajahnate of Butuan specialized in the mining of gold and the manufacture of jewellery. The Rajahnate of Sanmalan specialized in the transhipment of spices and an analysis of Sanmalan's Rajah Chulan's tribute to the Chinese Emperor, of aromatics, dates, glassware, ivory, peaches, refined sugar, and rose- water, show it had trade links with Western Asia which they leveraged to the Philippines. Later on, the nation was known to raid for slaves to sell in Java. The Sultanate of Maguindanao was known for the raising and harvesting of cinnamon. The Sultanate of Lanao had a fishing industry by lake Lanao and the Sultanate of Sulu had lively pearl-diving operations.
The kingdoms of ancient Philippines were active in international trade, and they used the ocean as natural highways. Ancient peoples were engaged in long-range trading with their Asian neighbors as far as west as Maldives and as far as north as Japan.
Some historians have proposed that they also had regular contact with other Austronesian people in Western Micronesia, because it was the only area in the Oceania that had rice crops, "tuba" (fermented coconut sap), and tradition of betel nut chewing when the first Europeans arrived there. The uncanny resemblance of complex body tattoos among the Visayans and those of Borneo also proved some interesting connection between Borneo and ancient Philippines. Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, mentioned that merchants and ambassadors from all surrounding areas came to pay tribute to the rajah of Sugbu (Rajahnate of Cebu) for the purpose of trade. While Magellan's crew were with the rajah, a representative from Siam was paying tribute to the rajah. Miguel López de Legazpi also wrote how merchants from Luzon and Mindoro had come to Cebu for trade, and he also mentioned how the Chinese merchants regularly came to Luzon for the same purpose. The Visayan Islands had earlier encounters with Greek traders in 21 AD. Its people enjoyed extensive trade contacts with other cultures. Indians, Japanese, Arabs, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Thais, Malays and Indonesians as traders or immigrants.
Aside from trade relations, the natives were also involved in aquaculture and fishing. The natives made use of the "salambao", a type of raft that utilizes a large fishing net which is lowered into the water via a type of lever made of two criss-crossed poles. Night fishing was accomplished with the help of candles made from a particular type of resin similar to the copal of Mexico. Use of safe pens for incubation and protection of the small fry from predators was also observed, and this method astonished the Spaniards at that time. During fishing, large mesh nets were also used by the natives to protect the young and ensure future good catches.
From the early 1500s to as late as the 1560s, people from Luzon, Philippines; were referred to in Portuguese Malacca as Luções, and they set up many overseas communities across Southeast Asia where they participated in trading ventures and military campaigns in Burma, Malacca and Eastern Timor as traders and mercenaries, even reaching as far as Tokyo and Sri Lanka. One prominent Luções was Regimo de Raja, who was a spice magnate and a Temenggung (Jawi: تمڠݢوڠ) (Governor and Chief General) in Portuguese Malacca. He was also the head of an armada which traded and protected commerce between the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, and the medieval maritime principalities of the Philippines.
Spanish colonial period.
New Spain (1565–1815).
The natives were slavered among them by other tribes like Lapu-Lapu which forced other islands to pay taxes. The arrival of the Spanish removed this slavering system. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi with Tlaxcaltecs from Mexico conquered and unified the islands. This conquest was possible as a result of the discovery of the trip back to Mexico coast by Agustino Urdaneta. The administration of Islas Filipinas was carried out through the Capitania General and depended on Mexico Capital which formed the New Spain Viceroyalty. The economy of Islas Filipinas grew further when the Spanish government inaugurated the Manila Galleon trade system. Trading ships, settlers and military reinforcements made voyages once or twice per year across the Pacific Ocean from the port of Acapulco in Mexico to Manila in the Philippines. Both cities were part of the then-province of New Spain.
This trade made the city of Manila one of the major global cities in the world, improving the growth of the Philippine economy in the succeeding years. Trade also introduced foodstuffs such as maize, tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, chocolate and pineapples from Mexico and Peru. Tobacco, first domesticated in Latin-America, and then introduced to the Philippines, became an important cash crop for Filipinos. The Philippines also became the distribution center of silver mined in the Americas, which was in high demand in Asia, during the period. In exchange for this silver, the Philippines very much functioned like a trade entrepot between the nations of South, East and Southeast Asia and the territories in Spanish North and South Americas. There were Silks, Porcelain, Paper, and various manufactured goods imported from China. Whereas: spices, aromatics, specialty woods, herbs, medicines, pearls, and cinnamon were imported from Indonesia and Malaysia. Finally, slaves, jewelry, cotton clothes, iron, and gunpowder was imported from India. These wares were imported into the Philippines and where re-exported to Mexico or Peru. The situation caused a trade imbalance as often the imports over weigh the ratio of exports. When the Spanish restricted the Asian trade via the Philippines to Mexico alone, trade with Peru and other Spanish territories nevertheless continued illegally and in secret. The illegal nature of Philippine trade with the Spanish-American Viceroyalties (With the exception of New Spain AKA Mexico) made Filipinos tacit participants in the anti-colonial Latin American Wars of Independence where Filipinos living abroad, greatly contributed in the independence wars of several American nations.
The Manila Galleon system operated until 1815, when Mexico received its independence. Nevertheless, it did not affect the islands' economy.
On March 10, 1785, King Charles III of Spain confirmed the establishment of the Royal Philippine Company with a 25-year charter. The Basque-based company was granted a monopoly on the importation of Chinese and Indian goods into the Philippines, as well as the shipping of the goods directly to Spain via the Cape of Good Hope.
Spanish East Indies (1815–1898).
After Spain lost Mexico as a territory, New Spain was dissolved making the Philippines and other Pacific islands to form the Spanish East Indies. This resulted in the Philippines being governed directly by the King of Spain and the Captaincy General of the Philippines while the Pacific islands of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Micronesia and Palau was governed by the Real Audiencia of Manila and was part of the Philippine territorial governance.
It made the economy of the Philippines grow further as people saw the rise of opportunities. Agriculture remained the largest contributor to economy, being the largest producer of coffee in Asia as well as a large produce of tobacco.
In Europe, the Industrial Revolution spread from Great Britain during the period known as the Victorian Age. The industrialization of Europe created great demands for raw materials from the colonies, bringing with it investment and wealth, although this was very unevenly distributed. Governor-General Basco had opened the Philippines to this trade. Previously, the Philippines was seen as a trading post for international trade but in the nineteenth century it was developed both as a source of raw materials and as a market for manufactured goods. The economy of the Philippines rose rapidly and its local industries developed to satisfy the rising demands of an industrializing Europe. A small flow of European immigrants came with the opening of the Suez Canal, which cut the travel time between Europe and the Philippines by half. New ideas about government and society, which the friars and colonial authorities found dangerous, quickly found their way into the Philippines, notably through the Freemasons, who along with others, spread the ideals of the American, French and other revolutions, including Spanish liberalism.
In 1834, the Royal Company of the Philippines was abolished, and free trade was formally recognized. With its excellent harbor, Manila became an open port for Asian, European, Latin American and North American traders. European merchants alongside the Chinese immigrants opened stores selling goods from all parts of the world. The "El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II" (now Bank of the Philippine Islands) was the first bank opened in the Philippines in 1851.
In 1873, additional ports were opened to foreign commerce, and by the late nineteenth century three crops—tobacco, abaca, and sugar—dominated Philippine exports.
First Philippine Republic (1899–1901).
The economy of the Philippines during the insurgency of the First Philippine Republic remained the same throughout its early months but was halted due to the break out of the Philippine–American War. Nevertheless, during the era