Quarantine has cost PH economy around P700 billion

The novel coronavirus has made a toll not only for the citizens but also for the national treasury, most especially when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was declared by the national government.

The Philippine economy like the other economies took a big hit, costing the government P700 billion through through business closures, supporting the government’s assumption of zero economic growth this year, this according to acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua.

Speaking thru a digital conference hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. The acting NEDA Chief said these estimates were gained from the results of a recent survey among businesses affected by the ECQ still enforced in the country’s main island of Luzon and other areas with high risk of transmission of the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.

(photo credit to owner)

“Based on the surveys so far, the effect of COVID primarily because of the quarantine is some P700 billion,” he said.  “Another way of looking at it, as you know, is we are not projecting in general, a positive economic growth for 2020,” he said.

Luzon is a host of the country’s 70 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Economic managers made a projection that the COVID-19 pandemic will greatly diminish the country’s economic growth to between zero and minus one percent.

Chua said the losses incurred by businesses so far as the quarantine remains in place is no longer very far from the estimated P1.1 trillion expected losses from economic output under a zero growth scenario.

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Report from PhilStar

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