The Philippines' insurance regulator, the Insurance Commission (IC), said first-quarter premiums of life and non-life insurers reached PHP 57.035 billion, up 19.51% from PHP 47.725 billion in the same period of 2016, and full-year national premium income is expected to grow by 20%.

      As of the end of March this year, the Philippine life insurance industry recorded premium income of PHP 44.08 billion, up 14.19% from PHP 38.36 billion in 2016. Non-life premiums rose from PHP 9.12 billion a year earlier to PHP 10.89 billion this year, an increase of 19.4%.

     Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa said the country's heavy investment in infrastructure construction is the main reason for premium growth.

       In 2016, with investment and consumption rising, the Philippine economy grew 6.8%—below the government's 7% forecast, but the fastest in three years.

        For 2017, President Duterte set a government budget of PHP 3.35 trillion, with PHP 860.7 billion allocated to infrastructure investment—equivalent to 5.4% of GDP—an increase of PHP 110 billion over the previous year's PHP 756.4 billion. However, GDP grew only 6.4% in the first quarter of 2017, below the government's 7% forecast, the previous quarter's 6.6% pace, and the 6.9% growth recorded a year earlier.

       The Philippines' 2016 premium income of PHP 231.883 billion was essentially flat versus PHP 231.203 billion in 2015, which the Insurance Commission attributed to last year's slump in the Philippine stock market.

       In 2016, Philippine life insurance premiums were PHP 182.793 billion, up 3.04% from PHP 188.531 billion in 2015.