The corruption scandal linked to flood infrastructure projects led to slower public spendingThe lacklustre performance of the Philippine economy raised the odds of another central bank rate cut. The weak economic performance was in part caused by a corruption scandal tied to infrastructure projects that slowed public spending and undermined consumer and investor confidence. It was also significantly short of the government’s 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent target for the year. Gross capital formation contracted 10.9 per cent, a sharper decline from 2.8 per cent in the third quarter. “Authorities have pledged to restart infrastructure projects, which should help to reverse some of the recent weakness in activity.