Economy to collapse if we return to strict lockdown, says Trade chief

The Philippine economy cannot afford another lockdown, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Wednesday.

“‘Pag nagkaroon tayo ng phase na talagang mahigpit na pagsasara.... the economy will collapse talaga ‘pag tinuloy pa ‘yung masyadong mahigpit na lockdown,” Lopez said in a virtual press conference after the televised Pre-SONA forum.

“Therefore, ang direksyon natin is finding the balance on economy, health and safety of citizens,” he said.

In the first quarter of 2020, the Philippine economy contracted 0.2% —the weakest pace in at least two decades, dragged by the the eruption of the Taal volcano in January, the decline in tourism and trade due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in February, and the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in March.

Unemployment rate also soared to a record-high of 17.7% or equivalent to 7.3 jobless Filipinos.

The International Monetary Fund is expecting the Philippines’ gross domestic product to shrink by 3.6% this year. The IMF projection is worse than the government’s -2% to -3.4% expectation.

The Trade chief said the direction of the government is to gradually reopen the economy, which was put on a halt for more than two months to contain COVID-19 spread.

The National Economic and Development Authority has earlier said 75% of the economy has already opened since the government moved to ease quarantine measures since mid-May.

The Department of Trade and Industry has also said 95% of industries have already resumed operations. The remaining 5% are the industries still not allowed to reopen under any community qualification.

“Sa pagbubukas ng ekonomiya pinaiigting ang compliance sa mga kumpanya,” Lopez said.

The Trade chief said industries’ compliance were satisfactory at 92% to 100% based on the DTI’s monitoring.

“Kapag ‘di sila sumunod isinasara... hindi tayo pabaya sa pagre-reopen,” Lopez said.

NEDA Acting Secretary Karl Chua earlier said that government’s move to ramp up its COVID-19 testing capacity is seen to ensure that the country will not return to strictest lockdown measure or enhanced community quarantine.

This was echoed by Lopez as he said that the increase in daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 was due to the increase in testing efforts.

“We are doing a lot of testing so natural po na dumadami ang kaso,” he said. —LDF, GMA News