-YOMMY AYILARA.
Philippines Economy Drops First Time in Two Decades.
The Philippines economy contracted for the first time in more than two decades during the first quarter.
It has however, been warned that the worst is likely yet to come and the pandemic has taken a terrible turn on the economy.
There was a shrinkage in their gross domestic product from 0.2 percent in January-March, and this is by far the worst performance since 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.
Philippines has joined a long line of countries to report overwhelming figures as a consequence of rampant lockdowns that have shut down economies.
The Economic Planning Acting Secretary, Karl Chua said;
βContaining the spread of the virus and saving hundreds of thousands of lives, though the imposition of the (quarantine) has come at great cost to the Philippine economy.β
The January eruption of the Taal volcano which forced the temporary closure of Manilaβs main international airport, also took a toll in the damage of the economy.
Chua added that there would be more pain and the economy could further dwindle in the second quarter.
He said;
βThe first quarter, I think, is still respectable given the very difficult environment that we are in. The second quarter might be worseβ.