Business woes due to COVID-19, inflation to diminish towards mid-2023 — Joey Concepcion

The challenges in the business sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation will diminish in the middle of 2023, according to Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion on Friday.

At a televised public briefing, Concepcion, who is a member of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Private Sector Advisory Council, said he is optimistic that  micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) will survive.

“I am very optimistic that our MSMEs will definitely be able to survive and even with higher interest rates, provided that the economy is accelerating, and they will be able to afford all this rising commodity prices and interest rates,” he said.

“But eventually all of these things will taper-off towards the middle of next year,” he added.

Concepcion said he believes the COVID-19 pandemic is at its “end” as he encouraged the public to take COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

On November 10, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the Philippine economy accelerated in the third quarter of the year despite a high inflation environment.

The economy as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) — the total value of goods and services produced in a specific period — grew by 7.6% during the July to September period.

This is faster than the upwardly adjusted 7.5% GDP growth in the second quarter of 2022 and also higher than the 7% GDP growth posted in the third quarter of 2021.

Inflation has been trending above 6% in the past quarter — 6.4% in July, 6.3% in August, and 6.9% in September — driven by rising food, utilities, and transport costs amid local and external pressures on commodity prices.

“The relaxation of border restrictions and more simplified travel protocols also supported the growth of local tourism and other sectors severely affected by the pandemic, leading to economic expansion in the third quarter,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Arsenio Balisacan said.

“The growth in these sectors brought by our collective efforts to jumpstart the economy runs in parallel with the rise in the country’s labor force,” he added. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News