Economic losses down to P74 billion a week

MANILA, Philippines — Economic losses due to lockdown measures in Metro Manila and nearby provinces have gone down to P74 billion per week and may decline further to as low as P8 billion if restrictions are fully relaxed.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua raised the scenario yesterday during Congress deliberation on the P5.024-trillion national budget for 2022.

He said the impact of community quarantine in Metro Manila and the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal has decreased with the downgrade of lockdown measures.

Metro Manila or the National Capital Region and Laguna are now under modified enhanced community quarantine until the end of the month following a two-week ECQ.

While the bulk of economic activity is centered in Metro Manila, Calabarzon is also a major economic player with several manufacturing hubs and other services located in the region.

Based on estimates of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the impact of MECQ is P73.68 billion per week, down from the P144.26 billion under ECQ.

The number of poor has swelled by 123,000 and workers affected have reached 310,000 during the MECQ period.

This is still an improvement from the 242,000 additional poor and more than 600,000 workers impacted during ECQ.

“There are severe economic costs. We have to manage the risks and open the economy at the appropriate time,” Chua said.

Opening up the economy by further downgrading quarantine measures is seen to lessen economic losses to P21 billion under general community quarantine with heightened restrictions, P15 billion under GCQ with restrictions, and P13 billion under GCQ.

This could decline to as low as P8 billion if the quarantine status of Metro Manila and nearby economic hubs is further relaxed to modified GCQ.

The number of poor people will also diminish to as low as 22,000 under GCQ and 14,000 under MGCQ. Likewise, the number of unemployed individuals will decline to as low as 34,000.

As the government continues to balance the need for stabilizing the economy and protecting the health of the population, Chua said vaccination of Filipinos especially in high-risk areas should be accelerated.

Latest government data showed that some 31.1 million doses have been administered.

About 12.2 percent or 13.3 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated while those given at least one dose reached 17.8 million or some 17.3 percent of the population.