NEDA’s Chua: P11B to be added to economy weekly upon descent to Alert Level 1

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua is optimistic that the country’s metropolis would ease restrictions in the coming month, adding over P11 billion and over 191,000 jobs to the economy.

At a virtual briefing on Thursday, Chua said the country is in line to meet the government’s economic growth target range of 7% to 9% this year, even with the surge of cases in January due to the Omicron variant.

“Despite the setback of the Omicron variant in the first month of this year, we have seen the virus go away fast, and we were able to manage the risk and we see a more responsive or more open economy in the latter part of January,” he said during the MAP economic briefing.

Metro Manila was upgraded to Alert Level 3 on January 3, 2022, and was later downgraded to the looser Alert Level 2 starting February 1, 2022.

Chua said he optimistic of a further easing of restrictions in the coming month, should the momentum continue.

“If we continue to work together and see Alert Level 1 hopefully by next month, then we would have added P11.2 billion in the NCR Plus area and reduce the number of unemployed by 191,000,” he said during the same briefing.

Data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) show that the descent to Alert level 2 in Metro Manila brought in P2.9 billion to the economy and added 50,000 jobs on a weekly basis.

Moving forward, Chua reiterated that the government is targeting an unemployment rate below 5%. Latest official data indicate that the rate stood at 6.6% in December 2020.

The country’s gross domestic product climbed by 7.7% in the fourth quarter of 2021, bringing the full-year growth to 5.6%. — RSJ, GMA News