Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipnas (BSP) Benjamin Diokno (Photo: https://www.philstar.com/) Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) will likelyshrink by 5.7-6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2020, much higher than the0.2 percent contraction in the first quarter, according to Governor of theBangko Sentral ng Pilipnas (BSP) Benjamin Diokno.
The two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction due to the full impact of thetight lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will put the Philippines’ economyin recession, he said.
Diokno stressed that the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis is harsher thanwhat was originally predicted.
Economic managers through the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) haveforecasted that the country’s GDP will fall by 2-3.4 percent this year from agrowth rate of 6 percent last year.
Previously, S&P Global Ratings announced a deeper GDP contraction of 3percent instead of 0.2 percent this year after the Philippines implemented oneof the world’s longest tight lockdowns to combat COVID-19.
Meanwhile, theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded the Philippines’ GDP to a 3.6percent decrease instead of growing by 0.6 percent this year as it sees theglobal economy shrinking by 4.9 percent instead of 3 percent due to the pandemic./.
VNA
