NEDA sticks to 6.5% GDP growth target

MANILA, Philippines — The government is maintaining its economic growth target at 6.5 percent for 2021 despite renewed mobility restrictions amid surging COVID-19 cases.

During a meeting with President Duterte Wednesday night, acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua expressed optimism that the economy would slowly recover this year following a slump in 2020.

“Our projection is that our gross domestic product will return to a positive growth rate this year at 6.5 percent,” Chua said.

The Philippine economy shrank 9.5 percent, its worst in several decades and sharpest among the largest economies in  Asia-Pacific.

This was due to uncontrolled COVID-19 outbreak combined with strict nationwide lockdowns and mobility restrictions, a succession of natural disasters, and delays in budget execution which weighed on public investment.

“We just have to continue our risk management, the proper use of our funds to help those affected,” Chua said, adding that “ our vaccination program should be implemented fast.”

NEDA has been pushing for the reopening of the economy. It was also among the government agencies that recommended localized lockdowns instead of going back to stricter quarantine measures.

The country has been in lockdown for a year already and Metro Manila, where the bulk of the economic activity is concentrated, has been under stricter mobility restrictions than the other provinces.

Because of this, the hunger rate in the National Capital Region is at a record-high of 23.3 percent which means one out of four residents in Metro Manila is hungry. There are also 506,000 jobless in the  NCR.

“When we entered 2020, prior to COVID-19, we had a very strong economy but because of the pandemic, we had to prioritize helping the people cope and help our hospitals that’s why we had a long quarantine,” Chua said.

“We are struggling,” he said.

While going back to stricter quarantine measures would prevent nearly 270,000 new COVID-19 cases and 4,700 new deaths, it would also contribute to the worsening hunger and poverty in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, according to Chua.

He said additional 58,000 people would be added to the 3.2 million hungry people and 128,500 more will be unemployed.

An additional P2.1 billion income will also be lost for every day that Metro Manila and the nearby provinces are in lockdown.