AI Could Add $79 Billion to the PH Economy by 2030 But Only if MSMEs Upskill Now

The headline number

At a recent media briefing, Accenture Philippines cited an IMF estimate: AI could unlock $79 billion in productive capacity for the Philippines by 2030—roughly one-fifth of the country’s entire 2022 GDP. Globally, the same projection puts AI’s contribution at up to $15.7 trillion by the same year.

Accenture country managing director Ambe Tierro said the Philippines is well-positioned to capture a meaningful share of that—but only if the right investments happen now.

Why the Philippines?

Tierro pointed to structural advantages: a young workforce, a large IT-BPM sector, a base of more than 1 million registered MSMEs, and the government’s National AI Strategy Roadmap already in place. These are real tailwinds—but the window isn’t unlimited.

The demand signal is already moving fast. Philippine job postings requiring at least one AI skill grew from 8,000 in 2021 to 56,000 in 2025—a 7x increase in four years. Generative AI-related vacancies grew 115-fold between 2021 and 2024.

Three things that need to happen

Readiness: AI and digital literacy across schools and workforce training programs, plus better internet and power infrastructure outside Metro Manila. The DICT’s Philippines AI+ Infrastructure Masterplan 2033 and DepEd’s Project AGAP.AI are already moving on this.

Innovation: More investment in specialized skills—data engineering, machine learning, cybersecurity. Stronger industry-academia partnerships. And critically, more AI adoption among small businesses and regional hubs outside NCR.

Responsibility: Governance frameworks that prioritize privacy, human oversight, and inclusive growth. The Department of Economy, Planning and Development is finalizing one now.

What this means for your business today

That $79B figure is conditional, not automatic. It depends on businesses like yours actually adopting AI tools. The 7x growth in AI-related job listings means your competitors, suppliers, and potential hires are already building these skills.

You don’t need to become a developer. But learning to use even one or two AI tools in your daily workflow—drafting customer messages, writing product descriptions, summarizing sales data—puts you ahead of the majority of Philippine MSMEs. The businesses that figure this out in 2026 will have a meaningful head start by 2030.

Source: AI could unlock $79B for PH by 2030, says Accenture — Newsbytes.PH