Philippine economy sickened by virus disruption as output falls and jobless rate soars
Philippines’ manufacturing production fell by the most since 2001 in April, the first full month of lockdowns imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The sector’s value of production index plunged 61.4 per cent from a year earlier, and the index measuring the volume of output fell 59.8 per cent, also the most in 19 years, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
At the same time, the Philippines’ unemployment rate surged to a record 17.7 per cent in April with 7.3 million people without jobs, the statistics agency said on June 5, as people lost their jobs due to the pandemic-induced lockdown that battered the economy.
April’s unemployment rate compares to 5.3 per cent in January and 5.1 per cent in April last year.
Economic Planning Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon in an online news conference tried to keep things calm, saying that “we should not lose sight of the fact that this loss in employment is really temporary.”
Few factories operating at full capacity
In the manufacturing sector, the steepest declines were reported in the production of leather products, footwear and apparel, furniture, fabricated metals, rubber and plastic goods and tobacco products, the statistics agency noted. Less than a quarter of respondents to a survey said they operated at full capacity, it added.
All this will contribute to the biggest contraction of the Philippine economy in more than three decades this year, disastrous for a country which before the pandemic was one of Asia’s fastest growing economies.
The government in Manila is now projecting the economy to shrink by two to 3.4 per cent this year. The coronavirus outbreak will cost the country two trillion pesos (approximately $40 billion) this year or nearly a tenth of gross domestic product.
As of June 6, the Philippines had 21,340 conformed Covid-19 infections, of 994 died and 4,441 recovered.
Philippines’ manufacturing production fell by the most since 2001 in April, the first full month of lockdowns imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The sector’s value of production index plunged 61.4 per cent from a year earlier, and the index measuring the volume of output fell 59.8 per cent, also the most in 19 years, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. At the same time, the Philippines’ unemployment rate surged to a record 17.7 per cent in April with 7.3 million people without jobs, the statistics agency said on June 5, as people lost their jobs...
Philippines’ manufacturing production fell by the most since 2001 in April, the first full month of lockdowns imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The sector’s value of production index plunged 61.4 per cent from a year earlier, and the index measuring the volume of output fell 59.8 per cent, also the most in 19 years, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
At the same time, the Philippines’ unemployment rate surged to a record 17.7 per cent in April with 7.3 million people without jobs, the statistics agency said on June 5, as people lost their jobs due to the pandemic-induced lockdown that battered the economy.
April’s unemployment rate compares to 5.3 per cent in January and 5.1 per cent in April last year.
Economic Planning Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon in an online news conference tried to keep things calm, saying that “we should not lose sight of the fact that this loss in employment is really temporary.”
Few factories operating at full capacity
In the manufacturing sector, the steepest declines were reported in the production of leather products, footwear and apparel, furniture, fabricated metals, rubber and plastic goods and tobacco products, the statistics agency noted. Less than a quarter of respondents to a survey said they operated at full capacity, it added.
All this will contribute to the biggest contraction of the Philippine economy in more than three decades this year, disastrous for a country which before the pandemic was one of Asia’s fastest growing economies.
The government in Manila is now projecting the economy to shrink by two to 3.4 per cent this year. The coronavirus outbreak will cost the country two trillion pesos (approximately $40 billion) this year or nearly a tenth of gross domestic product.
As of June 6, the Philippines had 21,340 conformed Covid-19 infections, of 994 died and 4,441 recovered.
