Philippine economy shrinks at record amid COVID-19
The Philippines’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 9.5 percent in 2020 due to severe impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
A jeepney is seen on a road in Manila, the Philippines, in August 2020 (Photo: Xinhua)
Hanoi (VNA) - The Philippines’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 9.5percent in 2020 due to severe impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, accordingto the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
This is the sharpest since the PSA startedcollecting data on annual growth rates in 1947.
In 2019, the Philippine economy grew by 6 percent.
PSA’s data shows that in the last quarter of 2020, the Southeast Asian country’sGDP shrank by 8.3 percent year-on-year after a fall of 11.4 percent in thethird quarter.
According to Philippine ActingSocioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua, the purchasingpower in the country remained weak and this prevents private consumption from making a stronger comeback.
However, he is still optimistic about the economic outlook of thecountry in 2021, which is forecast to strongly recoverbefore the end of the year when the government launches a large-scale COVID-19vaccination programme.
The Philippines’s GDP is predicted to expand between 6.5 to 7.5 percent in2021./.
The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines said on January 4 that the country reported 959 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number to 478,761.
The Philippines saw a year-on-year inflation rate of 3.5 percent in December 2020, up from 3.3 percent in the previous month, driven by price hikes in food and non-alcoholic beverages, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.
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A jeepney is seen on a road in Manila, the Philippines, in August 2020 (Photo: Xinhua) 
