Duterte to ASEAN: Philippines bracing for 'significant decline' in economy

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said the COVID-19 pandemic will have a major negative impact on the Philippine economy as he urged Asian leaders to ensure open trade in the region.

Duterte joined fellow leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea in a special virtual summit on COVID-19.

“COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill. We face the specter of a global recession,” Duterte said in his address before fellow leaders in the ASEAN. “In the Philippines, we are bracing for a significant decline in economic output.”

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said last week that the COVID-19 emergency hit the Philippines “in a very hard way” and the economic growth could settle between 0 to -1% this year. The Philippine economy grew 5.9% in 2019.

To soften the economic damage from the pandemic, the Philippine government is looking to raise P1.17 trillion coming from existing funds and concessional financing from multilateral institutions.

A portion of the COVID-19 funds will go to emergency subsidies for low-income households and other vulnerable groups suffering the most from the pandemic’s economic hit.

“We are instituting social safety nets to soften the blow, including subsidies to 18 million families from the marginalized sectors of our society. Simply stated we are feeding 18 million families as of today,” Duterte said.

“But this will not be enough. We need to rebuild our economies and stimulate growth domestically, regionally, and globally.”

Duterte said the global health emergency is an opportunity for nations to establish a “new normal” using lessons learned from this and other crises.

“The world after COVID-19 need not be a lesser version of the one before it,” he said.

In his address, Duterte called on ASEAN to keep markets open and ensure food security as well as supply chain connectivity.

He also expressed support for the creation of regional reserves of medical supplies “to better equip us in this fight” and urged nations to strengthen the capacity of their healthcare systems.

“The elements of international cooperation that will allow us to overcome this challenge will form the basis of how we will engage one another as we create a more resilient world,” Duterte said.

“The Philippines can only heal together as one country. ASEAN can only recover as one region. The world can only bounce back stronger as one global community.” -NB, GMA News