Palace concerned by the steep drop in GDP in Q2

ECQ affected Q2 economic growth as Palace expresses concern over the steep drop

MANILA – The decrease in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate resulted from the quarantine measures in response to calls to curb COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, released Thursday mid-afternoon, Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque said they are “concerned by the steep drop which is much worse than what our government economists had expected.”

He said the Philippines is not the only country facing the current economic conditions as COVID-19 brought adverse economic impact on countries like Singapore, Indonesia, the United States, France, Spain and Mexico.

“The Palace is aware of the hardships and the sufferings of our people. We thus provided an emergency subsidy program, which is considered the largest single relief program in the country’s history, which we took the painful choice of imposing the strictest quarantine measure on our people,” Secretary Roque said.

He mentioned planned programs to bring the economy back to its feet as the Executive Department took note of the main contributors to the drop in GDP including decline in manufacturing, construction, transportation and storage, the “sectors that were greatly affected by our strict lockdown.” With the gradual reopening of the economy and proposed stimulus measures, he expressed optimism of the performance of these sectors will soon improve.

He called on Congress to fast track the passage of important bills to boost the government’s second-semester offensive against COVID-19.

“We assure everyone that the government will continue working round the clock to strengthen our resilience and bring us back to the path of inclusive growth,” Secretary Roque concluded. (Melo M. Acuña)

Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque (Screen Grab from PTV4/RTVM)