Philippines' economy plunges into technical recession
The Philippines has plunged into a technical recession as the economy dropped 16.5 percent in the second quarter of 2020, the lowest recorded quarterly growth since 1981.
Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippines has plunged into a technical recessionas the economy dropped 16.5 percent in the second quarter of 2020, the lowestrecorded quarterly growth since 1981.
In an online meeting on August 6, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)said the economy contracted by 16.5 percent during the April to June period,following the downward-revised -0.7 percent in the first quarter of the year,and 5.4 percent in the second quarter of 2019.
According to the PSA, in the second quarter, both industry and servicesdeclined 22.9 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively.
The main contributors to the decline were manufacturing, 21.3 percent;construction, 33.5 percent; and transportation and storage, 59.2 percent.
Among the major economic sectors, agriculture, forestry, and fishing increasedwith 1.6 percent growth.
According to experts, the economic slowdown was partly because of the April -May coronavirus lockdown.
In mid-March, the Philippines imposed a lockdown in Metro Manila and otherparts of the country to curb the spread of the virus./.
A bill has been introduced in the Philippines’ parliament, aiming at taxing big tech firms such as Facebook, Google and Youtube, Netflix and Spotify, to raise funds for the COVID-19 fight.
The Philippine economy is projected to contract 1.9 percent this year due to the economic fallout triggered by natural disasters and COVID-19, the World Bank said in an updated report released on June 9.
The Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) will likely shrink by 5.7-6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2020, much higher than the 0.2 percent contraction in the first quarter, according to Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipnas (BSP) Benjamin Diokno.
The Philippine economy may contract by 8 percent in the second quarter of 2020 due to containment measures against COVID-19, according to Moody’s Analytics.
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Illustrative image (Photo: Reuters) 
