Philippines economy ‘worst performing’ in ASEAN, says IBON

The Philippine economy, which recorded a -9.5% GDP during pandemic-hit 2020, is the “worst performing” among the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), independent think tank IBON Foundation said Wednesday.

In a Facebook post, IBON blamed the Duterte administration’s “excessive lockdowns and quarantines, weak pandemic response and lack of real economic stimulus” for the worst economic slump since 1946. 

“The Philippine economy had a record 9.5% contraction in 2020. This makes it the worst performing in ASEAN and is set to be the worst performing in South Asia and the rest of East Asia,” said IBON.

Measured against current prices, the economy lost Php1.54 trillion in 2020 from the year before, or Php4.2 billion per day on the average,” it added.

Unemployment worsened

Citing data from Philippine Statistics Authority Labor Force Survey, the think tank also estimated that around 5.8 million Filipinos were unemployed in 2020, which means more families will become poor and hungry.

“The official number of unemployed and underemployed combined even worsened from 9.6 million in October 2020 to 10.5 million in January 2021, indicating more families falling into poverty and hunger,” IBON also said.

Meanwhile, the research group also pointed out that the poorest 75 percent of Filipino families without savings will be vulnerable to socioeconomic stress as they have been grappling with the economic consequences of the pandemic since last year.

“This is about 18.6 million families with 81.8 million people (at the current average family size of 4.4 members). They include the poorest 50% of 12.4 million families that IBON estimates likely had monthly incomes of just around Php22,000 or less entering the pandemic, and also the poorest 12% with monthly incomes of Php11,000 or less,” read IBON’s post.

Despite criticisms, the administration believes that it has managed the COVID-19 crisis “excellently,” citing that 90 percent of the country's cases are mild and asymptomatic. 

Philippines on Wednesday registered a total of 635,698 virus infections, including  61,733 active cases and 12,866 deaths. — BM, GMA News