Economic Crime’s Significant Impact on Present Day Youth
Economic crimes in the South and Southeast Asia region have affected the youth in several ways and is a significant problem..
COMMENTARIES
Neve Fernando
8/28/2026
Pic: Flooded streets in Manila after “Typhoon Carina” striked in 2025.
Economic crime has been shown to be a significant problem that is common across both the South and Southeast region of Asia, making it a serious concern for the present day youth. The region experiences economic crimes such as major corruption, fraud, and siphoning of public funds. These problems largely affect the younger population which led to several youth movements being created in many of the countries in the region.
The “Trillion Peso March” movement
A critical economic crime that occurred in the Philippines over the last three years had been the scandal regarding flood control projects. In 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that 5,000 flood control projects had been completed across the Philippines. However, the severe flooding caused by “Typhoon Carina” in the following year raised serious doubts about this claim. There was a stark amount in the lack of flood control projects since only approximately twenty percent of the flood control budget had been awarded to fifteen contractors. The public, especially the youth, reacted strongly to this scandal as massive floods damaged their homes and transport lines, affecting their way of living.
Results from Inquirer.Net
Approximately 5% of the flood control projects were confirmed to be non-existent once inspected as shown above. Government failure occurs as the tax revenue used to fund the infrastructure for these flood control projects goes to waste as the government fails to convert public resources into the intended social benefit. In the year of 2025, the Philippines only experienced 4.4% of economic growth which had been the slowest in 5 years. This shows how the flood corruption scandal would have affected businesses and consumer confidence as well which raises concerns about whether government spending is effectively contributing to economic growth. On the other hand, although the flood control scandal cannot be considered the sole cause, it may have reinforced existing weaknesses in investor and consumer confidence.
Following this, the “Trillion Peso March” youth movement was sparked by the public outrage over the misappropriations in these government managed flood control projects. The movement had five main demands which were all linked to the corruption behind the investigation. According to the TPMM, a total of 120,000 people had attended their first rally. This illustrates how much the youth of the Philippines were affected on a large scale. This economic crime is a serious concern for the present day youth as the floods were a major disruption to their daily life and education. Alongside this, the youth can be worried that the public funds from their tax money are put into flood control projects like these which don’t go into effect due to corruption.
“Aragalaya” in Sri Lanka
In 2022, a mainly youth-led mass protest movement against several economic crimes began in Sri Lanka which was known as “Aragalaya”. The uprising was aimed at the systematic state corruption, financial mismanagement, and abuse of power by the government. Large scale corruption was shown through misuse of public funds countless times alongside shortages of necessities which led to rapidly increasing inflation. There was a severe economic contract that could be seen as real GDP growth fell from 4.2% to -7.3% from the previous year to 2022. The fixed growth in investment fell from 6.9% to -24.4% largely impacting the ability to expand productive capacity and to create jobs. These problems combined led to exhaustion and uncertainty among the growing youth as students were faced with not only a sudden lack of basic necessities including food and fuel, but also the fear of not having job opportunities in the near future. The gravity of the situation and strength of the movement could be seen even more when a serving head of state resigned for the first time in Sri Lankan history as there was a loss in confidence with the government as a consequence of the economic crisis.
Initially, when Sri Lanka first had formal bailout talks with the IMF, this led to worsening the economy even more. Sri Lanka could only join the Extended Fund Faculty program on the basis that they would have to prove that their debt was heading towards sustainable levels. With strict prior actions to secure the $2.9 billion provided by the IMF such as increasing tax for higher government revenue, this would’ve disproportionately affected people with lower incomes, including the growing youth, in Sri Lanka as they would have less disposable income due to the change in VAT and indirect taxes. Therefore, despite the IMF’s aid helping in the long run, when the policies were initially being implemented, it could have caused hardship for the youth.
“Gen Z” led protests
Both Nepal and Indonesia had anti-government protests led by the youth awarding them the title of “Gen Z” protests. However, the reasons for the two countries’ rallies were entirely different. In 2025, Indonesians protested against the misallocation of public funds such as lawmakers receiving a $3,000 monthly housing allowance while the majority of the country–which had around 280 million people, struggled with the rapidly rising cost of living. The corruption significantly affects the population as the allowance is 10 times the minimum monthly wage in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. It impacts the youth as it was found that nearly 14% of people ages 15 to 24 were unemployed in Indonesia a year before. As public funds aren’t being allocated properly, this can lead to low wages and the reduction of money for job creations leading to lower living standards and high unemployment in the youth.
While the IMF concluded a positive outlook for Indonesia in their report, they also mentioned the increase in job losses and underemployment rates alongside jobs in the informal sector. These trends raise serious concerns for present day youth in Indonesia, especially those entering the labour market this year. This raises the concern of not whether jobs will be created but whether there can be a rise in formal employment in the future. If manufacturing continues to lose competitiveness and formal employment fails to expand, Indonesia risks leaving a generation of young workers trapped in informal or underemployed positions.
Present day youth
These economic crimes can cause concerns for the present day youth as they need to be prepared for the future. The misuse of public funds can lead to less funding towards schools and job creation, shrinking job markets in the long run which leads to fewer job opportunities for the youth, largely affecting their future. Not only will this impact the youth, this will lead to reduced consumer spending and slower economic growth for the country as they’ll have less disposable income. Therefore, the economic crimes in the South and Southeast Asia region have affected the youth in several ways and is a significant problem as it can be disadvantageous towards their future.
Ms.Neve Fernando is a Research Assistant(Intern) at the South Asia Foresight Network(SAFN) under the Millennium Project in Washington,D.C.
