Philippine CEOs dissatisfied with vaccination rollout, say earnings fall at least 10% for every lockdown

Most chief executive officers in the Philippines are dissatisfied with the country’s vaccination rollout and majority believe this could delay economic recovery moving forward, results of a recent survey revealed.

Results of the 2021 CEO Survey of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Philippines and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) found that 66% of the country’s CEOs answered in the negative when asked how satisfied they were with the rollout.

Data shown by the study indicated that the Philippines lagged behind its regional peers with a 12.9% vaccination rate as of September 3 versus Singapore’s 75.3%, Japan’s 47.3%, Malaysia’s 47.1%, Hong Kong’s 46.4%, and Indonesia’s 13.4%.

Latest data available show that there are 16,794,545 individuals who have so far received full doses, while 21,951,956 have only received the first jab as of September 12, 2021.

“Relatively speaking, I think the government has had a slow start, frankly. But in the last couple of months, the number of vaccinations done in a daily basis has increased dramatically and hopefully it will continue with the arrival of new vaccine supplies,” Mary Jade Roxas-Divinagracia, managing partner for deals and corporate at PwC Philippines, said in a virtual briefing.

The survey took into consideration responses from 178 CEOs across the country, primarily members of the MAP. Responses were also spread across a range of industries.

When asked what would delay the country’s economic recovery, 76% of the CEOs answered the slow vaccine rollout. Other possible causes include political uncertainty with 44%, and resilience on lockdowns to manage COVID-19 with 43%.

Lockdown

Most businessmen also reported that earnings drop by double digits every time a lockdown is implemented, with 70% of CEOs saying average daily sales and profits drop by at least 10% for each lockdown, and 42% see a drop of at least 20%.

Most of the Philippines has been under a form of community quarantine since March 2020, with Metro Manila currently under the modified enhanced community quarantine until September 15.

According to PwC Philippines chairman emeritus and ESG leader Alex Cabrera, majority of the CEOs also tapped external debt and additional capital from both personal funds and existing investors in the past year.

“Going forward, the majority of the CEOs still plan to tap external debt and/or equity to help their businesses,” he said.

“Despite the recent successful listings, only a few of the CEOs say that they’ll raise capital through the capital markets. Accessing the capital markets may be challenging for certain companies unless they have shown resilience and growth during the pandemic,” he added.

Results of the same survey found that most of the CEOs do not expect the Philippine economy to recover soon, as only 2% believe it will take less than a year to rebound. 

Some 50% believe the recovery will take two to three years, while 23% expect the recovery to take more than three years.

Only a little over a half of the respondents or 54% believe the economy will expand at a rate higher than 4% in 2022, while the rest expect a rate slower than 4%.

Still, 74% of the respondents believe their revenues will grow in the next 12 months, while 91% are confident that their company will experience revenue growth in the next three years.

“The conversations that the survey brings during and after our conference energize the business community in planning for and transitioning to a new future,” MAP president Aurelio “Gigi” Montinola III said.

“We want the delegates to look beyond information and to help shape the changing world order,” he added. —KG, GMA News