COVID-19 seen to slash GDP growth by 1%, up to 60k job losses

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is expected to result in up to 60,000 job losses and reduce GDP growth by 0.3 to 1 percentage point in the Philippines.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia stated that the impact on economic growth would be between 0.5 to 1 percentage point off the target of 6.5% to 7.5% real GDP growth for 2020, assuming disruptions last until June.

Tourism and trade sectors are most affected, with potential losses of up to P93 billion in gross value added due to a reduction of 1.42 million tourist arrivals if the situation persists until June.